The Hunt For Vengeance
by skycloud86
Summary: 24 hour story, set 1 month after Day Three. Mostly OC/Michelle. Someone has to pay a steep price for their actions.
1. 7:00am to 8:00am

_**A/N – This story takes place around a month after Day Three. Although Nina's son Joseph has appeared in other stories, he will be part of the "fanon" surrounding Alex Myers as a OC from now on (I tend to call it "Alexcanon" to separate stories based on the actual timeline from ones which aren't), and should be considered a totally different character to the one in Avenger. Also, the California Adoption Services are fictional as far as I know, and as far as this story is concerned. Most characters in this story are property of Fox, the rest are figments of my own imagination. This is also a 24-hour story, as each chapter in the story is an hour in the day of Alex Myers and CTU.**_

**7:00am, Alex's apartment, Los Angeles**

Placing the spoon and bowl which he had just used to eat breakfast into the sink, Alex Myers sighed as he looked at the clock. He wasn't due at work until 9am, but like many a night recently, Alex had slept very little. It was like an alarm clock in his mind every night at 3:00am, where he would suddenly see Nina's dead body no matter what or if he had been dreaming of something else, as if someone had suddenly switched his mind over like a television. The picture was vivid, and in his dream all he could focus on were her dead eyes, which stared into space. This scene would go on for some minutes, before he would wake up suddenly, sweat running down his face and when this happened, he could never go back to sleep and would end up just lying there, looking up at the bland white ceiling.

A knock on the door caught his attention, and not expecting anyone, he first looked through the peephole before opening the door. Unsure of what the couple wanted, he opened the door and examined the pair, one of whom was holding a small boy who could only have been three or four.

"Mr Myers?," The man, a balding, stocky man with brown eyes and a moustache who looked 50 enquired. Alex nodded, and the man took out an identification card.

"I'm Gregory Grayden, this is Olivia Logan. We're from the California Adoption Services," the man explained. The woman, who was much younger than the man was black, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes smiled as her partner spoke.

"California Adoption Services?," Alex asked, totally bewildered at this point. He hadn't contacted anyone about any adoption, and he had no plans to. Wondering if they had the wrong person, Alex gave them his full name and asked if they were at the right address.

"Believe me, you're the right Alexander Myers," Olivia said, her voice was Southern Californian with an hint of the Midwest.

"This is your nephew, Joseph Myers," Gregory said, pointing to the young child, who was busy playing with a toy. Alex stared at Gregory with confusion. The only way that the child, Joseph, could be his nephew was if he were Nina's son. Alex looked at the boy, who had big blue eyes, curly dark brown hair and a button nose. He certainly looked like a Myers to Alex.

"My sister died a month ago, but I never heard of any pregnancy or child," Alex replied.

"My condolences, sir, but that is why we're here. You see, your sister Nina asked to keep this child a secret from anyone who worked at, er...CTU, until her death, and as you're her only remaining living relative, Joseph's foster parents were happy to give you custody," Olivia told Alex. It was a somewhat bizarre statement, as if they had no idea who Nina had been or what she had done in her final few years.

"So, what happens now? Do you not need me to fill out some paperwork or anything?" Alex asked, unsure of what the proper procedure was.

"Yeah, you'll need to make an appointment at CAS, but we're confident that you're capable of looking after Joseph," Gregory replied. He passed Alex a notepad.

"This has all the information about allergies, likes, dislikes and so on," Gregory said. Olivia passed Joseph to Alex, who took hold of him with some anxiety, having not held too many young children in his life. Alex couldn't help but smile as the young boy looked at him. As the pair bid Alex goodbye, Alex wondered how he was going to do this. CTU was no place for a small child, and having a baby in the building had caused some problems when Chase's daughter, Angela, was an unexpected guest of Chloe O'Brian. Walking into the main room of the apartment, he gently lowered Joseph down onto the couch and sat down next to him. Leafing through the notepad, he tried to get a good understanding of his nephew.

**7.25am, MDC Los Angeles, Los Angeles**

Tony Almeida was lying on his bed in the small grey cell he would now call home for god knows how many months and years. His thoughts were mostly of Michelle, the woman he had loved enough to commit treason for. He knew that he shouldn't be in jail, but he knew that his actions were reckless and yes, selfish. Taking the photo of Michelle off the wall, he gazed at her beautiful, perfect face, framed by curly brown hair and lit up by a sweet smile and brown almond eyes.

"You gonna eat today, Tony?," a voice came from the door. The voice belonged to Tony's cellmate Riley Ortega, a Mexican-American kid who was in jail for numerous burglaries. Although he knew little about Tony's case, he knew a lot about Michelle, and that Tony loved her more than anything. They had become good friends, and had helped each other cope with adjusting to life behind bars.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go in a minute," Tony replied, never taking his eyes off the picture. Riley nodded and disappeared from view. Wiping a solitary tear from the corner of his eye, Tony gently placed the photo back in its place, sighed quietly and got up, about to start yet another dull day in prison.

**7.40am, outside Alex's apartment, Los Angeles**

Having given Joseph a banana to eat, Alex had then cleaned up half of the banana from around Joseph's face before putting him in the backseat. Explaining to Joseph that he was his uncle was best left until there was more time.

"Joseph, I'm gonna take you to a friends house. She's a really nice lady, and she'll look after you for a while until I finish work, OK?," Alex spoke to the kid as he made sure the seatbelt was in place. Passing Joseph his stuffed teddy, Alex got into the car and wondered if Kim was going to be OK with looking after Joseph.

**7.55am, Kim and Chase's house, Valencia**

Kim and Chase were in the kitchen, having breakfast when the doorbell rang and as Kim opened the door, she was surprised to see Alex for the first time in weeks.

"Hello, Alex. How are you?," Kim said, sincerely. Although she had hated Nina Myers, she had not wanted her dead, and in this regard, her sympathies were closed to Alex than to her father.

"I'm fine. Look, this is gonna sound weird, but could I ask you to do something for me?," Alex replied.

"Sure, what?," Kim asked, before noticing that there was a small boy stood next to Alex, staring up at her.

"This is Joseph. It's a long story, but I need someone to look after him, just until this evening," Alex responded, hoping that Kim would be OK with the idea of having two small children to look after.

"OK, I'm happy to do that, but who are his parents?," Kim asked. She didn't know for sure if Alex was a father or not, but she had presumed he wasn't.

"He's..he's my nephew," Alex replied, and both of them knew what that meant.

"That doesn't change anything, Alex," Kim replied. She knew that Alex was nothing like Nina, so why would her kid, who had probably never known her, be?

"Thanks so much, I appreciate it," Alex replied, smiling. As he gave Joseph a quick kiss on the cheek and said goodbye to both him and Kim, he wondered what being a parent would be like. Getting into his car and driving off, he realised something, something that caused his mind to become so conflicted with ideas that he thought he was going crazy. He decided not to go directly to CTU, but pay someone a visit first.

_**07:59:57**_

_**07:59:58**_

_**07:59:59**_

_**08:00:00**_


	2. 8:00am to 9:00am

**8:00am, CTU Los Angeles, Los Angeles**

Jack Bauer was slumped in a chair in the conference room. Ever since the new Special Agent in Charge, Erin Driscoll, had come to CTULA, he had felt as if a huge axe was hanging over his head. He knew that he would have to go to rehab soon, to kick his drug habit, but he didn't think he needed to, and part of him didn't want to. Straightening up as Erin walked into the room, he glanced at the file in her hand as she sat down at the opposite end of the table. Noticing the serious look on her face, Jack knew that it was going to be rough.

"Mr Bauer, CTU will be more than happy to help you with your drug problem, but it is of great importance that you seek help at a rehabilitation centre," Erin told him, her hazel eyes burning into his dull, pain-filled blue eyes. Resisting the temptation to make a sarcastic comment about CTU helping him, he thought about his options. Getting help would mean keeping his job, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to stay at CTU anymore. The past four years had been hell, and even with Nina Myers dead, he didn't feel any better than he had done since Teri's death.

"Look, I want to try and get rid of it on my own, I don't want rehab," Jack replied. He just wanted to do things his way, at his own pace.

"I have to make a decision in two months time, Jack, you know that. Look I'm on your side here, and I want to make sure you get all the help you need," Erin told him. Most of what she knew about Jack was from gossip and what other people had told her, and she was certainly impressed with him, at least up until the part where he started taking drugs and taking the law into his own hands.

"I don't need help from CTU, Erin," Jack replied with determination.

**8.10am, Michelle's house, Los Angeles**

Michelle was just about to leave for work when a car pulled up next to her. Noticing Alex, she walked over to him as he got out of his car.

"Michelle, I need to talk to you," Alex asked.

"What's so important that it couldn't wait until we were both at CTU?," Michelle enquired. Although she and Alex were good friends, she couldn't think of any reason for this unexpected visit.

"It's about Nina, Michelle," Alex replied, and Michelle could tell by the tone of his voice that he needed her help.

**8.20am, MDC Los Angeles, Los Angeles**

Tony and Riley had joined the other inmates in the exercise yard. The morning was breezy, and the tips of trees could be seen swaying gently on the other side of the wall. Tony had joined in with a game of basketball with a bunch of other Hispanic prisoners – American jails were notoriously segregated along racial lines – whilst Riley was stood conversing with another prisoner in Spanish close to the fence that surrounded the yard.

**8.25am, Alex's car, Los Angeles**

"So you know where he is?," Michelle enquired. Nodding, Alex told Michelle how he had found out about Amador's hideout to the east of Los Angeles.

"I know someone in the FBI, who told me that Michael Amador has a secret safe house in Victorville," Alex replied. Although he certainly didn't advocate the philosophy of "eye for an eye", he felt that it would be the only way to move on. With Amador dead, maybe the dreams would end and he could return to normality, or at least what CTU agents considered normal.

'You gonna tell CTU?," Michelle asked.

"No, at least not yet. From what my source tells me, Amador is there with just a few bodyguards in a big mansion. If we keep the loop tight, it might be easier to catch him," Alex explained.

"You want me to help you?," Michelle enquired.

"If you feel you can," Alex replied. He didn't want to force his friend into helping him, but he knew that Amador was the indirect cause of Nina's death and Tony's imprisonment.

**8.40am, CTU Los Angeles, Los Angeles**

Chloe O'Brian watched as Jack walked by with all the presence of a ghost. Ever since he had gone undercover with the Salazars, he had been like this at times, and it worried her. Although she wasn 't the most open person, she cared a lot for Jack and had made this clear to him over the months they had been working together. Taking her mind off of Jack, she looked over at the architect CTU had employed to renovate the building. The drab grey and steel look of the building was outdated, the layout archaic. The terrorism business was booming, and anyone who saw CTULA could tell that it seriously needed improving in many ways if it was to be in any way effective.

**8.50am, Kim's house, Valencia**

Kim smiled as Joseph played happily with Angela, who was much younger but happy to have a friend for company. Chase had left for his physical therapist appointment, where he had to go to regularly if he wanted to be able to use his hand again. It had been successfully reattached, but the surgeons had warned him that it would take months for the hand to work correctly again, and even then only if he worked hard.

**8.55am, MDC Los Angeles, Los Angeles**

Tony had been looking over at Riley every so often, watching his back. Knowing that some of the inmates were pissed off at Ortega for no apparent reason, he was concerned that the kid was in big trouble. Riley seemed OK, so Tony returned to his game. Minutes later, he heard shouting and, turning around quickly, he saw a crowd gathered near where Riley had been stood, with guards fast approaching to break them up. Worried, he ran towards the group and muscled his way through the crowd. On the floor, bleeding to death, was Riley, a makeshift shank lying on the ground nearby. Kneeling down next to Riley, Tony tried to stop the blood flowing out, but it came too fast and his efforts were futile. By the time the guards had reached Riley, he was dead. Noticing the shank close to Tony's leg, a guard grabbed Tony and shouted for help and, before Tony could realise what was going on, he was in handcuffs and being led out of the yard. It was only when he was put in solitary confinement that he realised – he was their main suspect.

_**08:59:57**_

_**08:59:58**_

_**08:59:59**_

_**09:00:00**_


	3. 9:00am to 10:00am

**A/N – You're probably wondering why Amador is still alive. In my version of Day Three involving Alex Myers, he doesn't die. Also, I don't know much about adoption or anything, and the sudden introduction and giving custody of Joseph to Alex is just to help the story and I seriously doubt it would happen like that in real life, even if Alex is Joseph's uncle. One final note, this story is meant to be a bridge story, so for Alex and the other characters, this is sort of like Day Four, with the real canon Day Four taking place after this one. Eventually, I'll be posting a list of the stories in chronological order on my profile so that they can be read in that order.**

**9:00am, a road in Los Angeles**

Alex and Michelle were now heading east towards Victorville. It was going to be almost midday by the time they arrived, which gave them plenty of time to discuss their strategy. Michelle was studying a map of the mansion and the surrounding area.

"How many bodyguards will he have?," Michelle enquired. Their chances of success depended heavily on how much resistance Amador's men would, or could, put up.

"No more than six. Two will be patrolling the back of the house, two at the front, whilst two will be with Amador himself," Alex explained. He knew that Amador himself would most likely not be harmed, as he was a man who preferred to leave the dirty work to others. Get rid of the guards, and Amador would be easily subdued.

"What are we gonna do with him?," Michelle asked. Although she had no sympathy for the arms dealer, she was worried about the possible consequences for her and Alex. They weren't acting as CTU agents, but as private citizens, and she could only hope that CTU would support them afterwards.

**9.10am, MDC Los Angeles, Los Angeles**

Tony rubbed his forehead and tried not to think too much about what had just happened. He knew that there would soon know that he wasn't the killer, but a small part of him wondered if they had just picked him out because he was a traitor. He was the only one in the jail, and he may as well have had the word traitor tattooed in thick red letters on his forehead. As the door creaked open, Tony shielded his eyes from the glare of the light that flooded into the room. A guard walked in and looked at him.

"Did ya do it, Almeida?," the guard, a portly white man with shaven red hair and a thick Californian accent spoke. Tony wanted to reply sarcastically, but thought better of it.

"I was trying to help him, not kill him! You've got cameras, right? Witnesses?," Tony replied, although he knew few witnesses would speak up. The guard snorted at Tony.

"Why the hell would anyone defend you, Almeida? You're nothing but a traitor!," The guard snarled at Tony, who was trying hard not to lose his temper.

"You don't know why I did it! I am no traitor to this country!," Tony answered, his voice raised.

"I know why you did it, son. Ya did it for your wife! She's probably screwing some other guy right now!," the guard chuckled, before the smile was wiped off his face as Tony lunged at him and punched him squarely in the jaw, sending the guard crashing to the floor. As more guards rushed into the room and subdued Tony, he felt a temporary sense of satisfaction. Sure, the guard had managed to piss him off, but the look on his face had been priceless.

**9.25am, Oval Office, White House, Washington DC**

Thousands of miles to the east, where it was already the early afternoon, President Palmer was sat at his desk in the Oval Office. It had been a month since his ex-wife's death, since he had decided that he would serve only one term in office. Sighing quietly as he looked at a picture of him and his family in happier times, he could only wonder what had happened to them that they would end up like this. Two weeks before, he had buried Sherry in Maryland amidst much media attention, and he had found it hard enough to comfort his children without having to deal with the press. They had never publicly stated the cause of Sherry's death, to protect both the Palmer and Milliken families. The media, ever hungry, had demanded details and they had decided to tell the media that Sherry Palmer and Julia Milliken were shot by an unknown assailant, who was still at large. This little white lie was, in David's mind, much bigger than that, and he felt as if he had betrayed the American people by not coming out with the truth. A knock on the door caught his attention, and he called out to the person to come in.

"Hello David," John Keeler said as he walked in, much to David's surprise. The two men shook hands before sitting down.

"John, what are you doing here?," David asked. This visit was an unannounced one, and David couldn't help but wonder if Keeler had just come to secretly gloat.

"I want your advice, David. If I'm elected President in November, I want to build a bipartisan cabinet, one which will unite America," Keeler spoke. Unlike the liberal Democrat Palmer, Keeler was a centre-right Republican and the two didn't often agree on many issues.

"Do you have any members of the Democratic party in mind?," David asked. Keeler then passed him a thin file.

"Take a look through that, see if you can recommend any of them," Keeler replied, before standing up.

"I will. Good luck with your campaign, John," David replied. As John turned around and left the room, David began to leaf through the file. Many of the people in it were members of David's own cabinet, appointed by him.

**9.40am, a road in Los Angeles**

"Why are we doing this?," Michelle asked as they drove down a busy street. Clearing his throat before speaking, Alex began to explain.

"A few weeks ago, someone from the FBI tipped me off as to Amador's whereabouts. As far as I know, the FBI know of him but aren't doing anything about it. Today, I had a visit from some people from the California Adoption Services, and I know that I have to do something about Amador," Alex explained. Michelle looked at him, confused.

"The California Adoption Services?," Michelle enquired.

"Yeah. Nina had a son, Joseph. He's four and they gave me custody. Kim and Chase are looking after him," Alex explained, much to Michelle's shock. She had been quietly critical of the way Nina had been killed, but now Nina had a son? An innocent child who would never know his mother?

"Who is the father?," Michelle asked. She knew of the affair Nina had had with Jack, and Nina's relationship with Tony had been made quite clear that night in CTU when she had been killed.

"I dunno, but maybe not knowing is for the best. At least then Joseph can grow up without knowing for sure that both of his parents were terrorists," Alex replied. Joseph's birth date pointed towards a conception date of about two months before Nina's arrest. Alex didn't know when Nina and Tony had started to go out, and he couldn't tell from looking at Joseph who the father was, seeing as Joseph was very much like his mother in appearance.

**9.50am, CTU Los Angeles, Los Angeles**

Erin Driscoll was stood in her office, looking down into the main bullpen area. The place looked old, grey and tired. It was evident to her that the whole building held too much bad history, and had already planned a large scale renovation of the building. She wanted CTU to be more efficient, more able to stop the threat of terrorism. Noticing Jack, she contemplated the pros and cons of having him around as a CTU agent. On one hand, Jack got results, and he was staunchly loyal and good at his job. On the other hand, he was reckless, murderous and the job had worn him down hugely. Returning to her desk, she looked at the open file she was reading. It was Jack;s file, and so far she felt almost as if Jack was two people, two separate entities within one human body.

**9.55am, MDC Los Angeles, Los Angeles**

Tony was still in solitary, with a few more cuts and bruises. He was lying down on the small bench that masqueraded for a bed and trying to fall asleep. Sleep would make the time go by quicker, but it would also leave him vulnerable to attack from any guard who managed to open the ancient steel door of the room. As he decided to take the risk, he knew that Michelle would not be cheating on him, and thought of the day that they would be reunited.

_**09:59:57**_

_**09:59:58**_

_**09:59:59**_

_**10:00:00**_


	4. 10:00am to 11:00am

**10.00am, CTU Los Angeles, Los Angeles**

As Curtis Manning walked into CTULA for the first time, he examined the people and the geography of the place. As one of Erin's first new employees to be hired, he was keen to make a good first impression on the people he would be working with to protect the people of LA. Noticing Erin descending the stairs from her office, he walked over to the bottom and waited for her.

"Hello Erin, I'm Curtis Manning," he said with an accent that had an hint of Canada, shaking her hand as he spoke.

"Welcome to CTU, Curtis," Erin replied. She had heard a lot of good things about Curtis, and was highly confident that he would be a great asset to CTULA.

**10.10am, Amador's safe house, Victorville**

Sat behind a huge oak desk, reclining in a plush chair, Amador looked relaxed, but he was anything but. Anxiously waiting for the phone to ring, he stared at it with intent. As soon as the first round of noise came from the phone, he grabbed it and answered immediately.

"Mr Cassar, I've been awaiting your call," Amador spoke, his voice tinged with an obvious English accent that betrayed his roots. Michael Amador was not a patriotic man, his loyalties were to himself, to his family, and to money.

"I have your word that the shipment will be in Los Angeles by tomorrow morning?," the voice on the other end of the phone enquired. Mr Cassar was an elderly man, with a voice that placed his childhood and adolescence in deepest Texas.

"Yes, you have my word. 11 o'clock, I'll be waiting for you. Are you satisfied with the asking price?," Amador asked. The shipment was enough to arm a small army for months, and $25m was actually quite a bargain for someone of Cassar's wealth.

"You better be," Mr Cassar warned gruffly, before hanging up abruptly. Sighing as he let the phone clatter onto the desk, he sat back and allowed himself to relax.

**10.15am, a road between Los Angeles and Victorville**

Alex pulled over to the side of the road and parked up. Taking his hands off of the steering wheel he rubbed his eyes for a minute or two, considering how he was going to say it.

"There's a big reason why I want to do this, Michelle. This morning, I was visited by two people from the California Adoption Service. Nina had a child, a boy called Joseph. He's at Kim's right now," Alex explained.

"What if they had never given you custody, Alex? What if you had never heard of Joseph? Would you have allowed Amador to vanish?," Michelle asked.

"I don't know, to be honest. I've know his location for a few weeks, and I know he's only going to be there for a few months at the most, but I think I needed someone to avenge Nina's death for, someone else who was robbed of a loved one," Alex replied, before wondering about the last part. Did he still love her by the time of her death?

**10.25am, Oval Office, White House**

David was busy sorting through the usual mound of paperwork when one of the diplomatic phones rang, indicating that a foreign diplomat or leader wanted to speak to him. Picking up the phone, his secretary told him that it was the British Prime Minister, Michael Blackthorne, on the line for him.

"Hello David, how are you?," the unmistakably Estuary English accent of Blackthorne could be heard on the other end.

"I'm well, and how are you?," David replied, although there was something in Michael's voice that told him that things were all that great.

"Not great. David, we've got a situation that involves both of our countries," Michael replied.

"What is it?,"

"An Iraqi militant group has kidnapped a group of British and American contractors working in Baghdad," Blackthorne explained.

**10.45am, MDC Los Angeles, Los Angeles**

The door to the solitary confinement cell creaked open once again, but this time the guard simply gestured to Tony to come out. As they walked down the corridor, the guard explained to Tony that the prison governor wanted to see him.

"Why does he wanna see me?," Tony enquired. The guard shrugged.

"I dunno, but usually in these sorts of situations its either for the inmate to be cleared or charged," The guard explained.

The walk down that lonely corridor seemed to take miles and hours for Tony. He really didn't another charge, especially for such a serious crime as murder, and he could only hope that the prison had enough evidence to exonerate him.

As they reached the governor's office, the guard opened the door for Tony, who walked in. Sat at a desk was a middle aged, portly men with greying hair, a hint of dark stubble and whom smelled worse than the prison toilets.

"Come in Almeida, siddown. I got some news for you," the governor said, gesturing towards an old wooden chair near the desk.


	5. 11:00am to 12:00pm

**11.00am, Amador's safe house, Victorville**

Amador was stood at the large window that dominated the room he used as an office. He looked out over the quiet estate that his safe house was located in, and felt anxious, although he had no reason to be . Holding his hands behind his back, he gazed over into the distance, towards Los Angeles. He hadn't been back there since his escape from Jack Bauer and CTU. He chuckled to himself as he remembered the federal agent who had tried to trick him down in Mexico. It had been a few days afterwards that Amador had heard about Nina's death at Jack's hands and, although Amador had tried to kill her himself, he had not been able to forget about her. Wishing he had met her in different circumstances – they would make quite the team, Amador thought – he forced himself to think of the plan for the next day. Mr Cassar would demand high security, high privacy and high quality goods.

**11.10am, Oval Office, White House**

Palmer was busy delegating tasks to his staff. He was determined to free those hostages successfully without any innocents dying. He needed people to analyse the group, their motives, to analyse the hostages, who they were and why they were in Iraq. Most of all, he needed someone who could give him advice on how best to tackle the terrorists. As he reached for the phone, he hesitated. Why did he have to run to that one person each and every time a situation involving terrorists arose? He decided not to bring Jack into the loop just yet, mentally making a note to review that decision every so often.

**11.20am, MDC Los Angeles**

Much to Tony's relief, he had been cleared and was allowed to go back to his cell. When he got there, he found Riley's stuff had already been moved, and as a result his cell seemed so empty and cold, even though it was boiling hot inside the jail. Slumping down onto the edge of his bed, he wondered just how this was going to last, and how long he was going to last. He missed so many things, but he missed Michelle in almost every way humanly possible. He missed her brown almond eyes, her curly hair, her sweet smile and laugh. There were memories stored in his mind that he would play back to himself every night, to make sure they stayed as fresh in his mind as possible.

**11.30am, a road outside Victorville**

Alex and Michelle were parked up on the side of the road, examining a blueprint of Amador's safehouse that Alex's FBI contact had provided him with. Along with the blueprint was vital information that would help them infiltrate the building, take out any and all hostiles, and get out safely. Alex knew that the plan had to go well, and that it had to be executed perfectly. They had no backup, and it wasn't even an official CTU mission, so they couldn't just call for help from CTU if they needed it.

**11.45am, a road in Victorville**

Alex and Michelle were now entering the small town where Amador was hiding out. They parked their car close to where Amador's house was, but made sure to hide it from view. They walked around the perimeter to find the best way to gain access to the property, and eventually found a gap in the tall fence.

**11.50am, Kim's house, Valencia**

Kim didn't expect to see her father at the door when she opened it, but was quick tio let him in. Curious as to what the visit was for, she asked him as soon as he walked inside.

"Do you know where Alex and Michelle are, Kim,?" Jack asked his daughter.

"Alex came here this morning, Dad, but I don't know where either of them have gone. I assumed that Alex went to work," Kim replied, but realised that he wasn't paying attention to her, but to Joseph.

"Who's the kid?," Jack asked. He had never seen the little boy before, and thought that it might be someone from Chase's family.

"His name is Joseph, Dad. He's Alex's nephew. I'm looking after him for a few hours, that's why Alex came over her this morning," Kim explained. Jack knew that Alex only had one sibling, and realised that the small child his daughter was looking after was the son of the women who had murdered Teri. Even so, he didn't hate or dislike the child, and resolved to make sure he did what he could to help the child.


	6. 12:00pm to 1:00pm

**12.00pm, Oval Office, White House**

Wayne Palmer came quickly into the room and headed straight for a wide-screen television. Turning it on, he changed the channel to the Al-Jazeera news station.

"You have to see this, David," he spoke as he turned the volume up.

A grainy video was being broadcast. On it, there were four armed and masked men stood in front of a black flag with the shahada, or Islamic declaration of faith, emblazoned on it in white Arabic text. As one of the men spoke in Arabic, English translations were being shown on the bottom of the screen, with Palmer's name being mentioned quite a few times. After a few minutes, the camera panned to the right, where a group of Western-looking men and women were sat down. Each had a black sack over their heads, and their hands were bound with thick twine.

"What do we know about this particular group, Wayne?," David asked, unable to take his eyes off of the grainy images being repeated on the screen. Wayne leafed through a file until he found the relevant information.

"Al-Safi, or The Pure, are an Islamic fundamentalist group founded in 2004. Usually, when they take Western hostages, they are deadly serious about their demands. They've already killed 50 Americans alone, David. I think we need to take them seriously," Wayne spoke, before looking over at David for a reply.

"I want to set up a meeting with the Joint Chiefs and the Cabinet as soon as possible," David ordered, fisting his hand tightly. He despised terrorists, and he had certainly seen his fair share of them during, as well as before, his presidency.

**12.15pm, Amador's safe house, Victorville**

Placing silencers onto their guns, Alex and Michelle sneaked into the grounds of the safe house. Relying on the information Alex had received from his contact inside the FBI, they managed to get to a good place from where to snipe the first couple of guards, who dropped to the floor with cold efficiency. The next couple of guards were on the other side of the mansion, so to get to them, the pair had to creep through overgrown bushes. Noticing that the pair of guards were about to stumble upon the two dead guards, Alex and Michelle broke cover and fired quickly at the pair, luckily managing to kill them both before they were able to fire a single shot.

Knowing that Amador wouldn't be armed with a gun, Alex and Michelle knew that just two more guards stood in their way, and both were indoors close to Amador's office. Climbing the ancient staircase was a difficult task for anyone, but they managed to creep up on the unsuspecting goons before each was felled by a fatal shot to the forehead.

As the door was easily kicked in, Amador dived under his desk. He knew that he was unarmed and wouldn't be able to defend himself, being the kind of person who preferred to let others get their hands dirty. Noticing a small figure approach him from one side, he considered putting up a fight, but the sound of a gun being cocked on his other side ruled this out completely.

"Get up, Amador," Alex ordered. Amador was sure that it would be Jack, but this man sounded different. Younger, certainly, and definitely not Californian. He didn't recognise the woman, either, but assumed that they were CTU agents.

"I assume you're here to arrest me?," Amador said, sneering at Michelle, before he was spun round to face Alex, and for a moment, a flash of recognition.

"No, Amador. We're here to make things right," Alex replied, before moving Amador away from the desk. Pulling out a pair of handcuffs, he restrained Amador's hands behind him tightly. Signalling Amador to sink to his knees, he waited a moment as he decided just how far he wanted to go.

"You remember Nina Myers, right?," Alex enquired, and Amador wondered where this questioning was going to go.

"Like I saw her yesterday, Agent. I assume you are an agent, right?," Amador replied, examining Alex's face. Alex dropped his CTU identification card on the floor and waited for Amador to take a look. It wasn't longer before Amador looked back up, shocked.

"She was my sister, Amador," Alex spoke in an emotionless voice, before picking up his id card again.

"Look, I know my rights!," Amador stammered, his face turning paler. Alex pointed at Michelle, and Amador looked over at her.

"Her husband is in jail because of your friend, Saunders," Alex informed Amador.

"You're not here to arrest me, are you?," Amador responded, having realised why they were there. He groaned as Michelle shot him in the shoulder, sending him crashing forwards. Alex turned him over, so that Amador could see him. Alex tried not to hesitate or show any sign of weakness. Even though he didn't know for sure if he could live with the consequences, he didn't feel as if Amador deserved any compassion.

"Goodbye, Amador," Alex spoke quietly, before firing three shots directly into Amador's torso, killing him instantly. As the smoke rose out of his gun, Alex fell to his knees, staring directly at Amador's lifeless eyes. Michelle, walking around from the other side of the desk, took his gun off of him and placed it onto the desk. For a minute or two, silence, before Alex tore his eyes away from Amador's face. Searching around, he saw a ceremonial sword hung on the wall. Taking it and examining the blade, he turned and looked at Amador's body, before approaching with the sword.

**12.50pm, a road in Victorville**

Tossing a cardboard box into the back of the car, Alex joined Michelle in the front of the car. As he about to set off, his cell began to ring. Taking a look at the caller ID, he hesitated for a minute, before deciding that it would be best to answer. Putting it on speaker phone, he spoke.

"Hello, Jack," Alex said, catching Michelle's attention.

"Alex? Where the hell are you?, Jack asked, both relieved and concerned.

"We're on our way back to CTU now, We'll explain it when we get there, Jack," Alex responded.

"We? Who else is there?,"

"Michelle," Alex responded, and Alex wondered if it was right to drag Michelle into this. Although he would never have been able to take out all six of Amador's men himself without seriously risking a massive firefight, he had more to avenge. Sure, Tony was in in prison, but it was better than being dead, and Alex was confident that President Palmer would pardon Tony as soon as it was possible.

"OK. Alex, I went to Kim's house earlier, and I know about Joseph," Jack told Alex. He hoped that Alex didn't mind him finding out so soon, or even finding out at all.


	7. 1:00pm to 2:00pm

**1.00pm, a road outside Victorville**

Suddenly and without warning, Alex diverted the car towards the side of the road, before coming to a sudden stop. Climbing out of the car, he stared into the distance with no idea of what he was doing, or who he had become.

"Alex?," a concerned Michelle called from the car, before getting out.

"Teri wouldn't have wanted Jack to kill Nina," Alex stated, sure of his statement. He had only known Teri for a few hours, and from what little he had found out about her, he knew that she wasn't the kind of person to sort out grievances with violence, and certainly wouldn't want to be avenged by violent means.

"Maybe not, Alex, but you and Jack both had the need for closure," Michelle responded. She was not an advocate of the 'eye for an eye' philosophy either, but she knew that Alex was right to kill Amador.

"What if someone wants to avenge him? Do I just allow them to?," Alex asked, his eyes still gazing at the horizon.

"I can't tell you what to do," Michelle replied.

**1.10pm, MDC Los Angeles**

Tony was back out in the yard, and had resolved to keep a low profile for the rest of the day. Any such promise he had made to himself was quickly forgotten as he noticed an overweight, heavily tattooed guy laughing to his friends. Tony didn't know his name, but he knew that he was responsible for Riley's murder. Walking briskly over to the man, he stood right in front of him, and the two men locked eyes.

"Sé lo que hiciste," Tony growled in a dangerous voice, but the man simply smirked and took his time to reply.

"¿Qué es lo que supone que tengo que han hecho?," he replied in a mocking voice. This only pissed Tony off and he was about to punch the living daylighits out of the guy, when a hand grabbed his wrist and started to pull Tony away.

"¡Suéltame ahora mismo!," Tony shouted angrily, but the man who was virtually dragging him was much bigger than Tony. After a few minutes, Tony had calmed down, and the man introduced himself.

"Mi nombre es Héctor Vásquez. ¿Habla Inglés?," Hector spoke. Tony nodded, before Hector's friend spoke, in English.

"I'm Joaquim Bernard. Listen, that guy you almost punched, he's one of the most notorious gang leaders in Southern California, and you were about to sign your own death warrant. What's your name?," Joaquim spoke, in a Mexican accent far different to Hector's New York accent.

"Tony. Tony Almeida," Tony replied. He was well-known amongst some of the prisoners, many of whom knew him as 'El Traidor', or The Traitor. It was apparent that Hector and Joaquim were either new inmates, or were not big on prison gossip.

"What is it that he is supposed to have done, Tony?," Hector asked.

"You don't know? He killed my friend this morning, in this very yard! I saw it!," Tony responded, his voice growing louder.

"Then nothing can be done, Tony. At least, not legally, and certainly not in public," Joaquim said, feeling sorry for Tony. It was obvious that the guy was not not used to being in jail, and the way he spoke and carried himself, it seemed as if he had once been in a position of authority, and he wondered whether suggesting illegal activity to such a person was really a good idea. If he had been a cop, chances were that he was still in touch with at least a couple of his own friends.

**1.30pm, Oval Office, White House**

President Palmer was deep in thought, wondering what the best course of action was. Grabbing his personal cell phone, he dialled a number that he thought he would never dial again.

"Jack?," Palmer spoke as the call was answered.

"I need your help," He spoke again, after a few seconds of silence.

**1.35pm, a road outside Victorville**

They were now back on the road, and Michelle was on the phone to Erin Driscoll. She was trying to explain where they were and that they were on their way back to CTU. After a few minutes of conversation, Michelle hung up and put the phone back in her pocket.

"She sounds angry, Alex," Michelle spoke. Alex nodded but didn't take his eyes off of the road.

"She wants to talk to us when we get back. Separately," Michelle continued.

"I don't want to drag you any deeper, Michelle. Tell the truth, that this was my plan, and I just convinced you to go along with it at the last minute," Alex replied. He certainly didn't want to cause Michelle any more grief, not after Tony's arrest, and was willing to take the full consequences of his actions, although he doubted that any such consequences would be anything major.

"Are you sure? I mean, you have to work with her," Michelle asked. She had accepted a transfer to CTU Seattle, as she had had enough of CTULA. Too much pain and misery for one lifetime happened in that building, and she had seen too many people destroyed by the events that had taken place over the years that she had worked there.

"I will always have CTU Chicago, Michelle. No matter what happens, they will always have me back," Alex replied. Josh Papierski, the SAIC at CTUC would be more than happy to a friend return.

**1.40pm, CTU Los Angeles**

Jack had just finished his conversation with David Palmer, and had been given permission by Erin to work with Chloe to help President Palmer in any way possible. He had advised the President to stay strong, to not negotiate with the terrorists, but Palmer had been adamant that he wanted to talk to the leader of the group, and Jack had told him that if he had to do so, to keep control of the conversation and to not give the terrorists anything.

**1.50pm, MDC Los Angeles**

Tony had been getting to know Joaquim and Hector, and he felt sorry for the pair. Both in their early twenties, they had been sucked into the world of drugs, and had been caught smuggling cocaine across the border. Although they quickly confessed, cooperated fully with the cops and pleaded guilty, they were still given the maximum sentence of 10 years in jail for their mistake. Both were articulate, well-educated young men, and Tony couldn't help but feel a connection to them. All three were amongst the fallen, those who had made mistakes or had acted out of passion.

_**1:59:57**_

_**1:59:58**_

_**1:59:59**_

_**2:00:00**_

_**A/N – The Spanish is probably very broken, because I used Google to translate the words.**_

_**Tony - "I know what you did". Also, I am aware that Joaquim is a Portuguese name, but so is Almeida.**_

_**Other Guy - "What is it that I am supposed to have done?"**_

_**Tony - "Let go of me now!"**_


	8. 2:00pm to 3:00pm

**2.00pm, CTU Los Angeles**

As Alex and Michelle walked into CTU, Erin noticed them almost immediately and, with Jack, walked straight towards them.

"I'm assuming you both have a good reason for why you've been out of contact for hours?," Erin asked, feeling like a parent scolding a pair of teenagers late at night. Alex nodded, before placing the cardboard box he was holding down on a nearby table.

"What's in the box?," Jack asked. He had no idea where Alex and Michelle had been, and he certainly had no idea what was in the box.

"A huge clue as to where we've been, but I wouldn't open it. Let's just say that the contents of that box are very similar to what happened to that Marshall Goren guy a few years ago," Alex replied. Jack's face looked deep in thought for a minute, before looking at Alex shocked.

"Who is it?," Jack asked, worried. He hoped that if Alex and Michelle had killed the person whose head was in the box, that they could justify the murder.

"Michael Amador. A friend of mine from the FBI told me where he was. They had a sting operation running, but decided to take today off," Alex explained. Jack, deciding to check, opened the lid slightly, and closed it as soon as he saw the lifeless eyes of Amador peering up at him.

"I want you two to explain to me exactly what you've been up to over the past few hours. Alex, go to Holding Room 1, Michelle, go to Holding Room 2. I want to speak to you both privately," Erin told the pair. She had no intention of arresting them at this point in time, and hoped that she wouldn't need to.

Sitting down inside the holding room, Alex was sure that he didn't regret killing Amador. Although he hated the idea of revenge, he had to concede that his actions had gotten rid of a dangerous criminal. Deciding that he would soon be allowed to forget Amador forever, his thoughts returned to Joseph. Alex was open to the idea of being a father to Joseph, but he knew that a job as a federal agent and being single meant that being a father was probably going to very hard. Even so, he knew that he was pretty much all the family the little boy had now, and knew what that felt like. He had lost his own parents years earlier, and Nina had been his only close relative left alive. There had been times when he deeply resented Jack, who had lost a wife but still had quite a few close relatives left.

Michelle was sat in the adjacent holding room, and her thoughts were of Tony. She had gone along with Alex because Amador was partly to blame for Tony being in jail, and she didn't regret being part of it. Waiting for Erin took less time than she thought it would, as Erin walked into the room, and she assumed that Erin was going to talk to her first.

"I've been in touch with the FBI, and sent a couple of CTU agents to secure the scene," Erin spoke, referring to Amador's mansion where seven dead bodies were lying. Sitting down, she looked at Michelle intently.

"I think this was Alex's idea, correct?," Erin questioned her.

"It was, but I offered to help him. He's a good friend and agent," Michelle replied.

"Did you attempt to arrest Amador, or was it Alex's plan to kill him from the start?," Erin enquired. Although she had little sympathy for Amador, she knew that the law was there for a reason, something she knew Alex would understand after Jack escaped prosecution for Nina's murder.

"No we didn't, but I don't think Alex went there with the intention of killing him," Michelle spoke. She was sure that Alex was probably not thinking of anything concrete until they had been in the room with Amador. Nodding, Erin sighed. It seemed like Alex was dangerously close to being arrested.

"That will be all for now, Michelle, and you can leave. I want a report from you detailing the events of today by the end of the week," Erin spoke, standing up. As she was about to leave, Michelle spoke.

"I know you'll have to make a difficult decision regarding Alex, Erin, but he's a good person who has been through a lot," Michelle said. Nodding, Erin turned away and walked out of the door. Heading towards Holding Room 1, she realised that she might need to take a risk. Even though she was confident that Alex could give her a good enough explanation that would result in his not being arrested for Amador's death, she knew that the evidence strongly suggested that it was murder. Opening the door to the room, her eyes went straight to Alex.

"When were you first told about Amador's safe house?," Erin enquired as she sat down opposite Alex.

"About two weeks ago. I realise that I should have just left him to the FBI, but I didn't want to risk him getting away," Alex spoke.

"Were you always intending on killing him?," Erin asked, not sure what answer she wanted to hear.

"I suppose so, Erin. I'm not going to lie and say that I wouldn't have been tempted to, knowing that he indirectly caused the death of my sister, so I would say yes, I was always intending to kill him. As for Michelle, she only knew about him this morning," Alex replied.

"Alex, I hope you realise that I'm in a very difficult position here. Division are breathing down my neck to make sure that CTU Los Angeles improves greatly, and this incident is not good for you, me or CTU," Erin told him, her voice slightly angry.

"Then arrest me, sack me or transfer me back to CTU Chicago. Leave Michelle out of this, and I'll accept any decision you make," Alex replied, looking Erin straight in the eye.

"I have every intention of leaving Agent Dessler out of this, Alex. For now, I have no choice but to suspend you until this is sorted out. I want you to write a report detailing exactly what happened today, and as soon as that is complete, I want you off of CTU property until your suspension is over. Is that clear?," Erin told him, and Alex nodded.

As Alex came out of the holding room, Michelle approached him.

"What's going to happen, Alex?," Michelle enquired. She knew that she was not going to be in any major trouble, but she was worried that Alex would.

"I've been suspended until CTU complete their investigation. Erin wants me to write a report about today then leave," Alex replied as the pair walked into the bullpen.

"What then?," Michelle asked, concerned about what would happen to Alex.

"I have no idea, but I think I'm probably not going to have a job here much longer. I think you're in the clear, which is a positive," Alex said as he sat down at his workstation to write the report.

**2.35pm, Kim's house, Valencia**

As Chase applied new bandages to his arm, he realised that Joseph was watching him with curiosity.

"What happened to your arm?," The small child asked, pointing a finger at Chase's forearm. Chase decided that the whole gruesome cause of his arm problems was probably not child-safe, so decided to be vague.

"I broke it, so I need to keep bandages on it for a while," Chase replied, and the answer seemed to satisfy Joseph, who nodded. As Joseph left the room, Chase smiled. He hadn't wanted to be a father this early in this life, but when the initial shock of finding out about Angela had died down, he had quickly grown to love his daughter. He felt sad that Joseph would never know his mother, and that the father was most likely some terrorist that Nina had had a fling with, so he was glad that Alex was there for the kid. The night when Nina had died, he had his fair share of experiences with her, and he had wondered what had happened to her to turn her into such a monster. As Kim entered the room, she saw Chase deep in thought.

"What are you thinking about?," Kim asked as she sat down next to him.

"I'm thinking about how lucky we are to have Angela, and how lucky she is to have us," Chase replied.

"Maybe one day, we'll have a child, a little brother or sister," Kim spoke. She didn't want children herself just yet, but knew that one day she wanted to be a mother, something she knew would make her own mother proud.

**2.40pm, Oval Office, White House**

The situation involving the hostages was going nowhere, and Palmer was getting worried. Al-Safi, the terrorist group involved, were not known for their patience, and the President knew that time was a precious commodity when dealing with them. The group had demanded the release of their leader, an Iraqi known only as Khalid, the Arabic word for immortal. He had been given this name as he had survived hundreds of attempts on his life, as well as a couple of bomb explosions. Palmer knew that Khalid was a highly dangerous terrorist who was personally responsible for multiple deaths, and indirectly responsible for thousands. Even Nina Myers, who he had pardoned a few years earlier, was benign compared to Khalid.

**2.45pm, CTU Los Angeles**

Alex had been hard at work for the last few minutes writing his report. He had decided to be honest and detailed, and to leave nothing out. Wondering just how this would end, he didn't know what conclusion he preferred. If he was arrested and found guilty, he would spend decades behind bars. If he was sacked or transferred, then he could move away from Los Angeles and bring up Joseph in Chicago.

**2.50pm, MDC Los Angeles**

Tony was sat in the visiting room. He had been told to expect a visitor, and as he saw Michelle enter the room, his face lit up. Embracing each other quickly, as was the rule in the jail, they sat down on opposite ends of the old wooden table.

"I've missed you so much, Tony," Michelle spoke quietly, tears forming in her eyes. Their hands met in the middle of the table as they spoke.

"So have I, Michelle," Tony replied. He had almost forgotten the sound of her voice and the reality of her face - a photo was good, but it wasn't the real woman he loved.

"Tony, Amador's dead. Alex found out where he was and we went there," Michelle informed him. Tony, shocked, looked at her with widened eyes,

"Alex killed Amador? What's going to happen to him?," Tony asked. He could certainly understand why Alex had done it, but he was worried that Alex would face a severe punishment.

"I don't know, but I think he's going to be OK. There's another thing, Tony, about Nina. She has a son, Joseph. He's four and looks a lot like her," Michelle told him.

"Nina had a son? Who's the father?," Tony asked, and he realised that as the child was four, that he was certainly one of the possible fathers.

"I don't know, but Alex has custody of him. Kim and Chase are looking after him at the moment," Michelle spoke.

**2.55pm, CTU Los Angeles**

Alex was close to finishing his report, and was thinking about what to do next. He was considering spending some time with Joseph, getting to know his nephew, and hoped that he could be a good father figure for him. As he typed the final few words and sent the document to the printer, he placed his CTU credentials on his desk, knowing that he wouldn't be needing them for at least a week or two.


	9. 3:00pm to 4:00pm

**3.00pm, CTU Los Angeles**

Driving out of the underground garage, Alex decided to go and pick up Joseph from Kim's house and take him home. Curious to know more about his nephew, he wondered about the first few years of Joseph's life. It was likely that Nina only got a few minutes with him before he was taken away, although he thought that there might be some sort of crèche where the women prisoners could visit their child. He knew that Nina had probably avoided the United States up until the night she died, so she probably never saw him after he was a few months old. Remembering that he had a few pictures of Nina in his house, Alex decided to give one to Joseph and tell him all about his mother, apart from the terrorism – that could be left until he was older, or maybe never divulged to him.

**3.05pm, MDC Los Angeles**

Michelle was driving out of a garage herself, at the prison where Tony was. As she had been given the rest of the day off, she had decided to go home and try and forget about the day's events. Suddenly, as she was waiting at a junction, a black SUV swerved in front of her. Unsure what was going on, she fumbled for her CTU-issued handgun, but decided it was going to be useless when three masked men with AK-47s jumped out of the back of the SUV. The men ran towards her car and jumped in. The one in the front passenger seat ordered her to drive and follow the SUV, and Michelle complied. She wondered what the men wanted, and concluded that it had to be something to do with Amador. He had been a crafty person, and she realised that Amador probably had people watching the house, although why they didn't defend him was a mystery to her.

**3.15pm, Oval Office, White House**

President Palmer was in a teleconference call with British Premier Michael Blackthorne and Iraqi President Yusuf Khatami. The situation was nowhere near any satisfactory conclusion, and President Khatami was assuring Palmer that everything was being done to locate the hostages and rescue them.

"Our intelligence tells us that the terrorist cell is somewhere south west of Baghdad, in or near the city of Kerbala," Khatami told the other two leaders. He was older than both of them, and wiser in some respects. He had dealt with similar hostage crises before, and was confident that the INIS, the Iraqi counter-terrorist agency, would be able to free them.

"Are you confident that your people can rescue all of the hostages unarmed, Mr President?," Palmer enquired. He was determined not to give the terrorists any victory, and that meant that all the hostages were to be freed unarmed and all the terrorists killed or captured.

"I am quite confident, Mr President, but I must warn you that we cannot guarantee a total success," Khatami replied.

What about Khalid? Has he been moved to a more secure holding facility?," Blackthorne asked. Like Palmer, he was determined not to lose any of his citizens either.

"He has been moved into the Green Zone in Baghdad, so there is little to no chance that the terrorists can attempt to free him themselves," Khatami said. Khalid had been held in a jail in Samarra, but had been hastily moved when news of the hostage crisis reached the Iraqi government.

**3.20pm, Kim's house, Valencia**

As Alex parked close to Kim's house, he noticed that Kim was stood at the door. Walking up to her, he realised that she looked panicked.

"Kim? What's the matter?," Alex asked.

"It's Michelle. Some men hijacked her car, and CTU have been trying to get in touch with you. They want you to go back there to help find her," Kim told him.

"Tell them I'll be there as soon as I can," Alex spoke as he quickly went back to his car. Realising that this was probably at least partly his fault, he knew that he had to do everything possible to get Michelle back safely.

**3.25pm, Port of Los Angeles**

As the cars came to a stop outside a boathouse, the three men in Michelle's car ordered her to get out. Out of the SUV came another masked man and a woman. Pushing Michelle roughly, they forced her inside the boathouse and sat her down on a chair. Tying her hands to the arms of the chair, the five masked gunmen left the boathouse, leaving a terrified Michelle alone.

**3.30pm, CTU Los Angeles**

Chloe was busy trying to track the cars as they made their way through the Los Angeles streets, whilst Jack was engrossed in the video footage of the hijack. He could tell that the men were professional, and that they considered Michelle valuable, like a pawn.

"I think they want to trade Michelle for something, so we should expect a call from someone soon," Jack told Chloe and Erin. Studying the screen, Chloe noticed that the van's registration plate was visible.

"I think I can get their licence plate, Jack," Chloe told him, before zooming in on the plate itself.

**3.35pm, Boathouse, PoLA**

Michelle was struggling against the rope that was tied tightly around her wrists when she noticed that a man had entered the building. Turning her head quickly, she saw an elderly man, with grey hair and dark brown eyes.

"I wouldn't bother, Agent Dessler. I mean, even if you freed yourself, my men out there would just fill you with bullets and, I know that neither of us wants that. I know Tony Almeida doesn't want that, either," The man spoke, angering Michelle. He obviously knew enough about her, but she didn't recognise him.

"You and your friend, Agent Myers, have caused me a lot of trouble today. I did have a business transaction with Mr Amador, but now he's dead, my shipment is basically floating around in the Pacific. Now, I'm a powerful man, but I need the help of an agency such as yours to rightfully claim that shipment. At least I don't have to pay for it now," he chuckled.

"You think they won't be able to find you? They'll already be looking, I can promise you that!," Michelle shouted at him, determined to show nothing but defiance towards him.

"I don't plan to stay here much longer, and I don't plan to keep you here much longer. No, we'll be elsewhere, waiting for CTU to get me my shipment. When that shipment arrives in Los Angeles, I expect full co-operation with my men, who will transport it elsewhere. As soon as I am assured that my shipment has arrived there, then I will release you. I don't intend to harm you, Agent Dessler, I merely intend to exploit your agency's loyalty to you," he told her in a rather emotionless tone.

"Can I at least ask you your name, or whatever you call yourself?," Michelle asked. She couldn't care less, but knowing a name he used would at least make him seem more regular, more like a normal person.

"You may know and address me as Mr Cassar, Agent Dessler," Cassar replied.

**3.40pm, CTU Los Angeles**

As Alex walked into CTU, he noticed Jack glaring at him. Deciding to get straight into helping find Michelle, he asked the trio stood around Chloe's computer for any updates.

"We know who owns the SUV, and we think we know where they took Michelle," Chloe told him. Jack grabbed a gun off of the table and chucked it to Alex.

"Come on, we need to get to the Port, where Michelle's car was last seen," Jack spoke gruffly, before heading towards the garage. Alex, knowing that Jack was blaming him entirely for the hijacking, decided not to argue.

**3.45pm, Oval Office, White House**

Palmer's teleconference had now ended, and he was waiting for any news to filter through. The three leaders had decided that the INIS could use as much force as they wanted, as long as they worked hard to ensure no hostages were hurt or killed. Minutes after the conference, the Iraqi President had contacted Palmer and Blackthorne, informing them that the terrorists had been located in a disused building on the outskirts of Kerbala. He knew that in a few months, his successor as President would be elected, and he didn't envy whoever it turned out to be. Although he had achieved plenty during his term, he had suffered many losses because of it, and he knew that there would be ghosts haunting him for the rest of his life. Those ghosts included the innocent victims of Operation Nightfall, Teri Bauer, Julia Milliken and his ex-wife, Sherry.

**3.50pm, road in Los Angeles**

"We should be there in a few minutes, Jack," Alex told him as they sped through the streets of the city. Jack, who was trying not to talk to him, grunted in reply.

"I'm sorry I dragged Michelle into this, Jack," he spoke once more.

"I don't care about that right now, Alex. Right now, I want to find Michelle and make sure she's safe," Jack replied, as they pulled up close to the boathouse where a witness had seen Michelle being taken into.

Carefully, and with guns drawn, Jack and Alex moved towards the boathouse. Finding only one entrance, they carefully slid open the door, only for a strange click to be heard. At first, they froze, thinking it might have been a gun. Then Alex looked down on the ground.

"Run! It's a bomb!," Alex yelled, and as the two agents ran away from the building, the bomb exploded, destroying the boathouse in an inferno. Coughing as the smoke went everywhere, Jack and Alex looked at the blazing building in horror.

_**15:59:57**_

_**15:59:58**_

_**15:59:59**_

_**16:00:00**_


	10. 4:00pm to 5:00pm

**4.00pm, PoLA**

"She's dead! You caused her death, Alex!," Jack yelled as he punched Alex, who was knocked to the ground. Jack was about to hit him again, when the sound of sirens fast approaching distracted him. As Alex stood up, a fire engine came speeding into the main square of the port. The two agents watched as the fire fighters got to work dousing the flames. Both of their faces were pale with shock.

"Let's not jump to any conclusions, Jack," Alex said, as he rubbed the bruised cheek where the punch had landed.

"Conclusions, Alex? Do you really think she survived the blaze?," Jack replied, his voice angry and resentful.

**4.05pm (LA time), Kerbala, Iraq**

The INIS tac team were in position, and were quietly discussing their tactics in Arabic as they waited for the signal. They had managed to work out where to attack the building where the terrorists were, and knew they had a slim window of opportunity in which to seize the terrorists before they could harm the hostages.

"_wahid, ithnan, thalatha_...go! Go!," ordered the team leader after counting to three. The tac team, consisting of eight elite Iraqi agents, stormed the building. All communication with the outside world was cut off for a few minutes, beginning a tense wait for the outcome.

**4.10pm, Pacific Ocean**

Still alive, Michelle was now on a speedboat along with Cassar and one of his men, who was piloting the boat north. Michelle was handcuffed by one wrist to the seat she was sat on, whilst Cassar was sat across from her, talking into a cell phone. When he finished his call, he turned his attention to Michelle.

"At least it's a nice day for this, Agent Dessler. I wouldn't worry, I promise that you'll be back safe in Los Angeles soon enough," Cassar spoke, his voice barely audible over the water being forced away by the powerful and fast boat.

"Where are we going, anyway?," Michelle asked. She hoped that the journey would not take them too far from LA, too far from Jack and Alex and CTU.

"To a private beach of mine near Salinas. I have a house there, quite a nice place," Cassar replied. Suddenly, a siren could be heard close by and, as a coastguard boat came into view, Cassar cursed.

"Speed up, I know this boat can outrun any coastguard boat," Cassar ordered the driver.

**4.15pm, Oval Office, White House**

Another teleconference had begun between Palmer, Blackthorne and Khatami had started, and the mood was far more jovial.

"I am happy to bring you news of success from INSI, Mr President, Mr Prime Minister," President Khatami announced, a huge grin on his face. His INSI agency had become one of the best in the region under his presidency, and he was more than happy to prove this to other countries.

"Congratulations, Mr President. May I ask how the hostages are?," President Palmer asked. He was pleased that the operation had gone well, and had already scheduled a press conference to announce the news.

"All are fine, although one unlucky gentleman was slight bruised during the commotion, but his injuries are superficial. As for the terrorist cell, it has been completely annihilated," Khatami replied.

"I must also offer my congratulations, Mr President. What is to be done with Khalid now?," Premier Blackthorne enquired.

"For now, he will be detained in the Green Zone. INSI are currently tracking down all known Al-Safi members," Khatami said.

**4.20pm, PoLA**

"We've searched the entire site of the fire, and there's no evidence that anyone was caught in the flames. We did find, however, a trapdoor. Maybe your agent and the person or persons holding her escaped through there?," A fire fighter informed Jack and Alex, much to their relief. Thanking the fire fighters, they walked over to the trapdoor, which had been pried open. Climbing down the steel stairs inside, they began to walk through the tunnel.

"I'm sorry about my outburst, Alex. I truly thought she was dead," Jack told Alex, his voice apologetic.

"It's fine, Jack, especially now we know she's still alive," Alex replied.

**4.25pm, Cassar Private Beach, Salinas, California**

Cassar walked ahead as the boat driver guided an handcuffed Michelle towards the house. She was quietly observing the area, looking out for any possible escape routes.

"We should be here for a few hours, Agent Dessler. After that, my shipment should have reached it's destination, and we'll take you to the nearest CTU, which I assume is in Salinas, right?," Cassar explained as they reached the house, which was a fairly large mansion built close to the beach. It had whitewashed walls with blue window and door frames. As they entered, Cassar told his man to seat her on a wooden bench that was situated on the other side of the room. Telling him to guard Michelle, he went into an adjacent room.

**4.35pm, PoLA**

Reaching the other end of the tunnel, Jack and Alex found nothing but a small platform used for docking boats. Realising that Michelle could be miles away by now, Jack took out his cell.

"Chloe, can you contact the coastguard and ask if they've seen any suspicious boats anywhere near Los Angeles?," Jack asked as she picked up the phone. Waiting for a response took only a minute or two.

"A boat was seen speeding near Salinas owned by a Mr Nestor Cassar. He owns a private beach near there and is suspected of involvement in arms dealing," Chloe replied, and Jack knew that there had to be a connection.

"Thanks, Chloe. Could you send an helicopter to the Port? It looks like me and Alex need to go and find this Mr Cassar," Jack said, relieved that a good lead had come so quickly. The two agents began walking back down the tunnel, hoping that the Cassar lead was not going to be a waste of time.

**4.40pm (LA time), house in Chicago, Illinois**

Mamud Ali was not pleased. The Iraqi leader of a Al-Safi cell inside the US had heard of the unsuccessful attempt to free Khalid from custody. Murmuring to himself in Arabic, he decided that his cell should do something in retaliation.

"Asad! Contact the others, I want to make sure that we show our strength as soon as possible," he ordered a younger man, who nodded before leaving the room. Alone, Mamud turned to the television, which was showing footage related to the freed hostages.

**4.45pm, helicopter over Californian coast**

Alex and Jack were heading quickly towards Salinas in one of CTU's best and fastest helicopters. They had already gotten in touch with CTU San Luis Obispo, who were going to send a team to Cassar's private estate to await the arrival of the two LA agents.

"I bet it doesn't feel better, does it?," Jack asked Alex, who was confused at first as to what Jack was referring to, but realised that he was talking about revenge.

"Not really, especially now that Michelle is paying for my actions," Alex replied, his voice quiet and regretful.

"I didn't take the decision to kill Nina lightly, Alex. I didn't enjoy it, and I don't take any pleasure from what I did," Jack spoke.

"I didn't enjoy killing Amador either, and took no pleasure from it either Jack," Alex responded.

**4.50pm, White House**

A pleased Palmer was preparing for his address to the nation, happy that he was able to bring good news. He had heard of the events involving Jack and CTU, and he promised himself to keep up to date with developments from Los Angeles. Wayne, Palmer's brother, was sat next to him as he waited.

"This nation is going to miss you as President, David," Wayne spoke, and David could only chuckle.

"I'm sure my replacement will be just as good, Wayne. I've done a lot in my term, but I'm only human and I have made mistakes. Many mistakes," Palmer replied.

"It's likely that Keeler is going to win in November, and if he does, it could be bad for the country. Have you seen his plans for the economy?," Wayne spoke, already seeing the Democrats kicked out of the White House after just one term in there.

"He was here earlier, Wayne, asking me to recommend Democrats for positions in his government. If he wins, his government will be bipartisan," Palmer responded, confident that Keeler would agree with his recommendations. Wayne looked at his brother, surprised.

"Nevertheless, we need a strong candidate for the Democratic Party," Wayne said, and Palmer nodded in agreement. Suddenly, an aide came up to them and told Palmer that the cameras were ready. Standing up, Palmer looked at his brother.

"We'll find someone, Wayne,' Palmer replied as he walked into the Oval Office. Sitting down at his desk, he looked at the camera, and as the cameras began to record, he began to speak.

"My fellow Americans, I have the pleasure of announcing to you tonight that the hostage crisis in Itaq has been successfully ended," Palmer began.

_**16:59:57**_

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_**16:59:59**_

_**17:00:00**_


	11. 5:00pm to 6:00pm

**5.00pm, Cassar Private Beach, San Luis Obispo, California**

As Jack and Alex got out of the helicopter, they were greeted by two men and a woman, who identified themselves as CTU San Luis Obispo agents.

"Hello Agents Bauer and Myers, I'm Agent Sutherland, these are Agents Kirshner and Walker," said the oldest looking agent, who was bald with blue eyes and a aquiline nose, before pointing to a short blonde woman with green eyes, and a short younger man with sandy hair and hazel eyes.

"Have you been able to find out how many people are in and around the house?," Jack asked, shouting slightly as the helicopter took off to land in a safer area.

"No, but we don't think there's many people in there. Possibly no more than 10 or 15 people," Agent Kirshner replied.

**5.10pm, supermarket, Douglas, Chicago**

Mamud, Asad and three others entered the supermarket, guns concealed under coats. Observing the small group of staff and customers, Mahmud pulled out his gun and fired twice into the ceiling. Ordering everyone to kneel down with their hands on their heads, he ordered one of the terrorists to find a secure area to place the hostages in.

"If everyone remains quiet and does as I ask, no one will die here today. We are simply here to convince your government, and that of Iraq, to release our _rafiq," _Mahmud spoke as he walked further into the store.

"Asad, find a way to block these doors, so no one can leave," he ordered.

**5.15pm, Oval Office, White House**

"And so, people of America, I bid you a good evening," Palmer spoke as he finished his address. As he left the office, a worried Wayne came up to him.

"David, we've got another problem. Looks like a cell of Al-Sufi in Chicago has taken hostages in a supermarket," Wayne explained.

"Get me CTU Chicago, I want this sorted out quickly. If the media find out, it could cause reprisals throughout the country, and Americans will become even more paranoid of terrorists lurking in the shadows," Palmer replied. He was determined not to lose a single American life to the cell.

**5.20pm, Cassar Private Beach, San Luis Obispo, California**

The CTU agents were slowly making their way towards the house. The land around it was mostly overgrown grass, which they were using to their advantage. Suddenly, they were set upon by at least 10 armed gunmen, all wearing masks. Walker, attempting to fire at them, was shot in the chest.

"Drop your weapons, now!," one of the gunmen ordered, and the surviving agents complied. The gunmen started to march them towards the house, leaving behind Walker's bloodied body.

**5.25pm, CTU Chicago**

Sarah Henderson was already very busy when the call from the White House came through, but realised that she had to keep the President updated.

"We're doing everything we can to establish contact with the terrorists, sir," Sarah spoke to Wayne. She was already stressed enough from the fact that Alex seemed to be in big trouble down in LA, but had realised that it wasn't the best time to worry about him.

"The President wants this kept within a tight loop, Agent Henderson. No media or civilian knowledge of what is going on inside that supermarket," Wayne asked her. He knew that there would be at least some gossip of the event in Chicago, and that the Internet had probably already started to spread the news, but that didn't mean that they were unable to stop more information being leaked.

"I understand, sir, and I'll make sure that there are no leaks from CTU," Sarah replied.

**5.30pm, Cassars house, San Luis Obispo**

Jack, Alex, Kirshner and Sutherland were forced to kneel down in the same room that Michelle was being held in, their hands tied behind them with rope. As Cassar entered, he recognised Alex immediately.

"So we finally meet, Myers! You know, I was impressed by the way you cut Amador's head off, very professional," Cassar spoke as he looked down at Alex.

"If you need a hostage, Cassar, release the others and keep me. I'm the one who caused this mess," Alex replied. He knew that Kirshner and Sutherland certainly had nothing to do with the events of that morning, and Jack and Michelle weren't to blame.

"How heroic of you, Agent Myers. Well, I will certainly consider it, but for now, all of them will remain here," Cassar replied, before leaving the room. Michelle, who had been watching as the other agents were brought in, moved closer to the others.

"He says that Amador and he had a deal that was supposed to happen in Los Angeles tomorrow, and now he wants CTU to help him retrieve the shipment he believes rightfully belongs to him," Michelle explained to the others.

"How did he find out who we were, Michelle?," Alex asked as he looked around the small but well-lit room.

"I don't know for sure, but I think he had someone watching Amador. Maybe he thought Amador was going to trick him or something, much like he did to Nina and the Salazars," Michelle replied.

**5.35pm, supermarket, Douglas, Chicago**

Sarah and a couple of other agents were stood outside the supermarket, along with a small crowd of police officers. They had managed to block the road, and no civilians were able to get anywhere near the store.

"What do we know so far?," Sarah asked Officer Carl Arroyave, an average-sized man with brown eyes and brown hair. He and his partner had been the first officers on the scene.

"There seems to be at least five of the terrorists, and maybe up to twenty or so hostages. They've got them trapped in one of the corners, so we can't tell for sure," Arroyave informed her. Sarah picked up a phone and began to dial a number.

Inside the supermarket, the phone rang, and Mamud looked at it thoughtfully. Deciding to pick it up, he waited for the caller to speak.

"I am Agent Sarah Henderson, CTU. What are your demands?," Sarah asked, keeping her voice clear and emotionless.

"This is Mamud Ali. I am the leader of Al-Sufi in America, and I demand that that your puppet government in Iraq release Khalid. We are not afraid to die, and we are not afraid to take innocent lives," Mamud replied.

"That may not be easy to do, Mr Ali," Sarah replied. She knew that Al-Sufi would want to retaliate, but was shocked at how quick it had happened, and that it was happening in her own city, thousands of miles away from Iraq, where Al-Sufi were mostly concentrated.

"I am not interested in ease, Agent Henderson, I am interested in achieving my goal," Mamud replied, before hanging up.

Using the phone to dial CTU, Sarah tried to think where she had heard the name Mamud Ali before. She was certain that a man of that name, who was not affiliated with Al-Sufi, had been involved with some plot she had managed to defeat some years before.

"CTU, Devlin," Hannah Devlin, a CTU analyst spoke. Tall, with red hair and hazel eyes, Hannah was originally from Massachusetts, but had transferred to CTU Chicago a few years after Alex had left for Los Angeles.

"Hannah, it's Sarah. I need you to find any information we have on a Mamud Ali, possibly Iraqi and with connections to Al-Sufi, and send it to me as soon as you can," Sarah asked, sure that something that CTU had on Ali would be of great use to her.

"Sure, I'll get started straight away," Hannah replied.

**5.45pm, Cassar's house, San Luis Obispo**

As Cassar entered the room once more, he walked up to the small group of gunmen who were sat at the other side of the room, and began talking quietly to them. As he walked in front of the agents, the gunmen grabbed Jack, Sutherland and Kirshner by the arms and pulled them up.

"Thanks to your friend Alex, I'm going to let you three go. A ward of warning, though, try and rescue Alex and Michelle, and I'll kill them both before you even get close," Cassar told them, before ordering the gunmen to take the three out of the house.

"I have to ask, what is this precious shipment of yours, Cassar? Is it arms? Drugs?," Alex asked. He assumed it would have to be one of those two, which were mostly what Amador had traded with terrorists and criminals all over the world.

"It's none of your business, Agent, but if you must know, this shipment is not actually for my own purposes. You see, Amador may have recently gained a reputation for double-crossing after that whole mess down in Mexico, but I've been double-crossing people for nearly half a century. He was planning to sell the goods to me for far less than what I can actually sell it for, and I have a buyer lined up. If that shipment is lost, I'll lose my life," Cassar informed him, never taking his eyes off of Alex's face.

On the road where the agents had met, the gunmen used knives to cut the ropes off of the agent's wrists. Retreating back into the compound, they left the three standing alone.

"Now what do we do?," Sutherland asked. They were probably miles from anywhere else, and had no means of communication with CTU.

"When I was in the helicopter, I thought I spotted a gas station about a mile north of here. They might have a phone we can use," Jack replied, before starting to walk north.

**5.50pm, CTU Los Angeles**

Chloe had managed to find the shipment, and called over Erin to inform her.

"It's heading towards Los Angeles, and should arrive here at 11pm tonight. As far as I know, there's about 30 people on board, and most of them are probably Amador's men. They'll most likely not know that Amador's dead, but they might when they reach shore," Chloe spoke as she and Erin studied the information on the screen.

"Then we'll have to secure the shipment. I assume Cassar will contact us before then to clarify what exactly he wants us to do," Erin replied.

**5.55pm, Cassars house**

Cassar had left Alex and Michelle alone in the room, and Alex had managed to get his bound hands around his feet and back to his front, although it was ultimately useless as all the doors and windows were locked, and a gunman had caught him trying to open one of the doors.

"You really should behave, Alex. A few more hours, and you'll be free to go," Cassar told him as the gunman placed handcuffs tightly around his wrists, securing him to a metal pipe that ran down the wall close to where Michelle was sat.

"What is the purpose of this? I mean, you've got your shipment for free, so why didn't you just take it over as soon as it got here and sell it to your buyer?," Alex asked, genuinely curious. Cassar looked over at him, and considered his answer.

"The purpose? There is no purpose, really, but with the help of a federal agency, I can easily move this shipment without Amador's men trying to keep it for themselves. That, and the fact that my buyer will almost certainly know about Amador's death by now, and I don't fancy the idea of them robbing me of a profit," Cassar told him.

_**17:59:57**_

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_**17:59:59**_

_**18:00:00**_


	12. 6:00pm to 7:00pm

**6.00pm, gas station near Cassar's house**

Jack's observation was correct, and he soon spotted a public telephone near the gas station. Sutherland called the San Luis Obispo branch of CTU, informing them of the situation. Hanging up and joining Jack and Kirshner, who were sat on a large rock on the roadside, he sighed.

"Walker was one of our best agents, and this is how he goes? I've worked with him for years, and although we've had our ups and downs, we were friends. Guess I should call his wife as soon as I can," Sutherland spoke, his eyes welling up as he stared across the road at a old road sign. Jack wondered if one day, he or Alex would be in the same position.

"He was a brave man," Jack replied, his eyes looking back at the road where they had just walked up, a dusty path that was mostly made up of dirt and sand. The sun was beginning to fade, and long shadows were being cast all around them.

**6.10pm, White House**

Wayne cursed under his breath as he watched the breaking news report on television. Walking briskly into the Oval Office, he headed straight towards his brother.

"Someone's told the press, David," Wayne informed him as he turned the television on. David sighed heavily as he watched, the screen showing footage from a few hundred metres away from the police cordon.

"Arrange another presidential address as soon as possible. I don't want panic to break out because of this. I also want people finding the leak!," David spoke, his voice angry and loud. He remembered the aftermath of the day a nuke had to be exploded in the Mojave Desert. Not only had riots broke out nationwide, but a foreign intelligence agent had been beaten to death in Los Angeles simply for being an Arab. That had been hard to explain to his country.

**6.15pm, CTU Chicago**

Hannah was going through a long list of suspects connected to Al-Sufi, when one name caught her eye – Nestor Cassar. She knew that CTU Los Angeles were in the middle of an operation that involved Cassar, and now that he had been linked to the very group holding hostages in Chicago, she knew that she had to get in touch with CTULA. Finding the number, before dialling it, she wondered just how involved Cassar was. According to their intelligence, Cassar had no loyalty to any ideology, but was simply in it for the money.

"CTU, Manning," Curtis replied as he picked up the phone. He had been at CTU all day settling into his new job, and now he was being chucked in at the deep end. He had been told that CTU LA often experienced events that were extraordinary even for an intelligence agency like CTU.

"Hi, I'm Hannah Devlin at CTU Chicago. I understand that your branch is currently involved with a mission regarding a Nestor Cassar?," Hannah replied.

"Yeah. He's holding two of our agents hostage until he gets a shipment. Why?," Curtis asked, and Hannah felt anxious.

"He's got a connection to Al-Sufi, and they've been interested in buying nuclear warheads," Hannah informed him.

"So we could have a boat with a nuke heading straight for us?," Curtis asked. He realised that it would be foolish to simply wait for Amador's men to bring the ship to the port – he would have to take a tac team and take control of the boat before it got anywhere near.

**6.20pm, gas station near Cassar's house**

A black CTU-standard SUV pulled up, and out jumped a tall Asian man, with cropped black hair and deepset brown eyes. Showing his CTU badge to confirm his identity as Agent Aaron Yong.

"We can have an helicopter take you back to Los Angeles if you want, Agent Bauer," Aaron said, but Jack shook his head.

"I'm going to stay here, I want to nearby when he releases our two agents," Jack replied as the four climbed into the SUV.

**6.25pm, Cassars house**

Michelle and Alex were once more by themselves in the room. Alex had tried hard to see if the pipe would dislodge, but it was solid and he soon gave up. Turning to Michelle, he realised that she looked tired.

"I'm sorry I dragged you into this, Michelle. I cannot wait until we catch this son of a bitch," Alex spoke, his voice angry but hoarse, due to a dry throat. Michelle looked at him.

"I made the choice to go along with you, Alex. Besides, CTU probably have a plan," Michelle replied, tilting her head back. She looked up at the ceiling, with it's stains, before noticing a camera.

"There's a security camera up there, in the corner above the door we came in. I bet he's watching us right now," Michelle spoke as she stared straight at the camera. It wasn't a very hi-tech camera, but she could tell that it was good enough to keep an eye on something, or someone, that wasn't going anywhere fast.

**6.35pm, CTU Los Angeles**

Kim Bauer walked into CTU for the first time since the day Nina had died. Looking around for a familiar face, she saw Chloe and made a beeline for her.

"Chloe, I've been trying to contact my dad, but he's not answering his cell. Alex isn't either, what's going on?," Kim asked, and Chloe realised that she would have to be careful with her words.

They're currently on a mission, Kim, near San Luis Obispo. As soon as they get back, I'll get Jack to contact you, OK?," Chloe replied. Kim frowned and was about to accept the answer, but her curiosity got the better of her.

"Do you know what was going on earlier with Alex? He asked me to look after his nephew, and I assumed he had come here as normal, but my dad came to my house earlier and asked me where Alex and Michelle were. I don't think they would have been on a mission then without my dad knowing," Kim asked, and Chloe wasn't sure what to say. She knew all about what Alex and Michelle had done and although she found the whole thing to be a little gruesome, she didn't want to judge their actions.

"Alex and Michelle found Michael Amador, Kim. This morning, they went to his safe house near Victorville and they killed him. It wasn't authorised by CTU," Chloe replied, and Kim's face went white. Amador had nearly gotten her father and Chase killed in Mexico, and he was the one who got Nina involved in the whole incident.

"You mean they murdered him?," Kim asked, horrified. Even when Nina had died, she had still felt as if it were unnecessary, and Alex had been furious at Jack for taking the law into his own hands. Now here he was tracking down Amador and killing him.

"Look, it's not really that different from what Jack did to Nina. I know Alex isn't the ends justify the means kind of person, but what he did is no better or worse than what a lot of CTU agents have done before," Chloe told her. She wasn't about to get into a debate about the morality of Alex and Michelle's action.

"OK. Just remember to tell me dad to contact me as soon as he can, OK?," Kim asked, before turning around and starting to walk out of the bullpen. She knew that she would have to talk to Alex and Michelle, get their side of the story before she could really judge them.

**6.45pm, CTU San Luis Obispo**

CTUSLO was a much smaller place than it's LA cousin, and the resources allocated to it were obviously a fraction of those that LA received. There were a few agents in the building when Jack and the others arrived, including Special Agent in Charge, Paul Mason. He was a tall man with blond hair and light blue eyes. Shaking Jack's hand, he spoke in a distinct Californian accent.

"Welcome to CTU San Luis Obispo, Agent Bauer. It's a shame that we have to meet in these circumstances," Mason spoke. Like most CTU agents, he knew a lot about what Jack had done, and like most CTU agents, he admired Jack.

"Have you been in touch with LA?,' Jack asked, eager to know how the mission was going. He had a lot of faith in Chloe and the few other agents who were involved.

"Yeah, we have. Jack, it looks like the guy who has your agents has connections to Al-Sufi, the terrorist group who took hostages in Iraq today. Not only has another cell taken hostages in Chicago, but we think the shipment might be a nuclear warhead," Mason explained.

"A nuke? What are LA planning to do?," Jack asked, and he felt a funny feeling in his stomach. Memories of that day, when Nina was pardoned, when he desperately tried to get Kim out of Los Angeles, when George sacrificed himself. He hoped that it was just a possibility, that the shipment would be something far more mundane and normal.

"They're going to take the ship whilst it's at sea, so they have more time to deal with the ship before handing it over to Cassar's men," Mason explained.

**6.50pm, Cassars house**

Michelle had dozed off, but her sleep was disturbed and Alex could tell that it was only a light and not very restful sleep. He decided to try and get some sleep himself, but minutes after closing his eyes, he felt someone standing over him and, as he opened his eyes, he saw Cassar and one of his men. As the man took the handcuffs off, he lifted Alex to his feet, before placing the handcuffs back on. Taking him into another room, they sat him down on a chair. Looking around, Alex saw that the room was like a mini-CTU, with computers and monitors and all sorts of technology and weaponry around. Cassar took a chair and sat down in front of Alex.

"You're probably wondering why I'm taking such an interest in you, Alex," Cassar spoke, looking straight into Alex's weary eyes.

"Not really, but you can go ahead and tell me anyway, Alex replied.

"This shipment isn't the first time I've dealt with Amador. I also knew that you would jump at the chance to kill him, and spare me the indignation, Alex. After all, you did murder him and then cut off his head. Your friend at the FBI? He was a sleeper agent, an employee of mine," Cassar grinned as he revealed the information to Alex, who was trying hard to comprehend the news.

"So that's how you knew about me killing Amador? If that's so, why take me and Michelle hostage?," Alex enquired.

"Because I needed a good reason to get hold of you, Alex. After all, I was the one who sent your sister to bid for the Cordilla virus," Cassar replied, and Alex became furious.

"You son of a bitch!," Alex yelled, before the gunman clamped his gloved hand over Alex's mouth for a few seconds, before Cassar instructed him to remove it.

"I wouldn't wake your friend if I were you, Alex, she looked tired to me. Anyway, I think I should apologise for misleading you. When my shipment arrives, only Michelle will be released. You, my friend, are not," Cassar spoke quietly, his face close to Alex's.

"If you think I'm going to give you classified information, you're mistaken. CTU agents are trained to withstand a hell of a lot of torture," Alex replied defiantly, but Cassar just laughed.

"I believe it is you who is mistaken, Alex. I don't want CTU information, I want a replacement for Nina. I have certain methods that will turn you from loyal agent to ruthless mercenary," Cassar informed him, and it was Alex's turn to laugh.

"That will never happen, Cassar," Alex told him, his voice firm.

"Oh no? I think it will," Cassar replied. Taking a syringe out of his pocket, he took the lid off before tapping it twice.

"Samuel, make sure he doesn't make too much noise whilst I inject him, would you?," Cassar spoke to the gunman, who placed his hand once more over Alex's mouth. Alex looked at the syringe in horror as it penetrated his arm, sending the drug inside straight into his veins, before he fell into unconsciousness.

_**18:59:57**_

_**18:59:58**_

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_**19:00:00**_


	13. 7:00pm to 8:00pm

**7.00pm, outside of Cassar's house**

Cassar watched as two of his men unceremoniously carried Alex out of the house, before chucking him roughly into the back of a van. They had been careful not to wake Michelle, so as not to let her know of Alex's disappearance.

"Prepare him for the treatment, I'll be there in the morning," Cassar told one of the men, before they got into the van and drove off. Smirking, Cassar was anxious to see if he could recreate Nina Myers in a person genetically similar to her. He knew that Nina had been one of the most dangerous and most feared terrorists on the planet during much of her short life, and he hoped that Alex would be able to take her place.

**7.10pm, outside a supermarket, Douglas, Chicago**

Hannah had decided to call Sarah with some news. She had, at first, thought it would be better to keep it quiet, but she knew that Sarah would want to know.

"Sarah, it's me. Look, you know the situation in Los Angeles? Cassar is holding two CTU agents hostage, and one of them is Alex," Hannah told her, and Sarah couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"He's not going to hurt them, is he?," Sarah asked, her voice cracking slightly.

"As far as they know, he won't. He wants to keep them until he gets the shipment, then he'll release them. I probably should have waited to tell you, but I thought you would want to be kept updated," Hannah replied.

"OK. Thanks, Hannah, I'm glad you told me," Sarah spoke. Putting down her cell, she spaced out, and for a few minutes was thinking only of her friend. Soon afterwards, Sarah couldn't help but notice a sound growing louder, and soon identified it as coming from an approaching mob. Telling the officers to get ready, in case the mob broke through, she realized what these people wanted. They were vigilantes, who wanted to attack the terrorists and free the hostages and, whilst Sarah had no real problem with that, she knew it was dangerous and put innocent lives at risk, both inside and outside the supermarket.

"Everyone, get back! We need to do our job, and we can't do that if you're trying to push past us!," Arroyave yelled. He took one quick glance at the supermarket, and saw one of the terrorists observing the situation with curiosity. Suddenly, the mood grew darker, and the crowd began turning ever more violent. Arroyave was considered calling for more officers, but saw a gun being brandished in the crowd. He tried to alert his fellow officers, but was shot by the civilian wielding the gun. As the gunshot echoed, the crowd suddenly lost their blood lust, and began to retreat. As they did, officers surrounded Arroyave.

"It got me right in the chest," Arroyave spoke, his voice hoarse and wheezy. Sarah knelt down next to him and tried to stop the bleeding.

"Stay with us, Carl! Stay awake!," she encouraged him, and she could hear the sirens of an ambulance.

"I don't think I can," Arroyave wheezed, and as he took one final, deep breath, Sarah knew that he wouldn't. His eyes closed slowly and when the eyelids met, Sarah looked up at the officers surrounding them.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. As she stood back up, she watched as the crowd began to disperse almost as quickly as it had formed. Their impatient need for action had caused someone innocent to die, and Sarah was finding it hard to return to the state of mind she needed to be in if she was to have any chance of freeing the hostages safely.

**7.20pm, White House**

Palmer was now live, and asking Americans to stay calm.

"Although there are currently terrorists holding American citizens hostage on American soil, now is not the time to panic. I have assurances from the CIA and FBI that few terrorist groups are active in the United States, and that chatter has not been higher than normal. I believe that tonight's situation in Chicago is an anomaly, caused by a group of fundamentalists who want their leader freed from an Iraqi jail. Like us, our Iraqi allies are making it a rule not to negotiate with terrorists. I again urge all citizens not to panic, and certainly not to take any action, no matter how convinced you might be of it's legitimacy. Call the police if you suspect any criminal or otherwise suspicious activity," Palmer spoke, his authoritative voice loud and clear.

**7.30pm, Green Zone, Baghdad, Iraq**

In Iraq, it was the middle of the night, but Khalid was not asleep. He had been taken to an interrogation room and was now sat there with two INSI agents. Speaking in Arabic, they tried to convince Khalid that he had to order his followers to free the hostaegs in Chicago.

"The only way I will do anything that benefits you traitors, is if you give me a full pardon," Khalid asked, smirking, although the smile was soon wiped off of his face as the butt of a gun was smashed down onto his cheekbone.

"You know that will not happen, Khalid! You either help us, or we'll make sure you spend the last of your worthless days in the worst cell in Iraq," the taller and older agent, known as Ahmed spoke.

"It does not matter what you do to me here on Earth, so long as I serve Allah," Khalid replied, defiantly. The second agent looked at him closely before speaking.

"You think you serve Allah? Don't make me laugh! Islam is a religion of peace, not of violence and causing harm to innocents!," the second agent, Tariq, shouted. He was sick of these fundamentalists, who claimed to be Muslim but had no respect for human life.

"I will say nothing more until you give me what I want," Khalid spoke,

**7.35pm, road north of San Luis Obispo**

Alex groaned as he regained consciousness. His eyes had been covered with a blindfold, and his hands were now in front of him, bound tightly with rope. Soon working out that he was in a moving vehicle, he could only guess as to where he was being taken. Deciding not to draw attention to himself, he kept quiet, which allowed him to hear the two men in the front of the van talking quietly.

"The boss said to take him straight to Watsonville, man," one of the men said, and Alex knew that they were heading north, although he had no idea what was lying in wait for him when they got there.

**7.40pm, Amador's ship, Pacific Ocean**

Curtis looked out of the helicopter window as they landed on the deck of the ship. They had managed to kill most of Amador's men before landing, but the team knew that there was most likely more men blow deck. Leading the team below deck, they encountered little resistance, and soon found the cargo. Nervously, one agent took out a Geiger counter and began running it over the numerous crates.

**7.45pm, Cassar's house**

As Cassar dialled CTU's number, he took out a tape recorder from his pocket. Rewinding the tape, he got it ready for when he would need it.

"CTU, this is Special Agent Driscoll speaking, Mr Cassar. We have secured the ship and will uphold our end of the deal. Now, I would like evidence that both of our agents are alive and well," Erin spoke. She knew it was Cassar because he had been given a certain number to ring by CTU.

"That is fine with me," Cassar spoke, and carefully switched on the recorder, so that Erin wouldn't notice. He played part of Alex's conversation with him earlier, and for Michelle it was even easier, as all he had to do was wake her up. Satisfied that both her agents were alive, Erin contacted Curtis to tell him that the deal was still on.

"Thank you, Mr Cassar. As long as they stay alive, you'll get your shipment," Erin told him, trying to hide her disgust. She found Cassar to be one of the murkier people that CTU had to deal with. He wasn't a terrorists who ardently believed in something, he was simply a leech on anyone who was unlucky enough to get too close to him.

**7.50pm, Amador's ship, Pacific Ocean**

The agents watched as the Geiger counter passed over the last crate. The agent holding the device sighed with relief as he did.

"None of these boxes contain anywhere near enough radioactive material for them to be carrying a nuke," he announced. Another agent took a crowbar from the floor and carefully prised open the crate nearest to her. As the team looked inside, they were glad to see that the shipment was far more mundane – a large number of AK-47s and other automatic weaponry.

"Is he planning a small war with the US or something?," Curtis asked rhetorically as he picked one of the guns up. They were real enough, but unloaded.


	14. 8:00pm to 9:00pm

**8.00pm, supermarket, Douglas, Chicago**

Mamud was getting impatient. CTU had not contacted him for some time now, and the incident involving the crowd had got to him. He knew that the American people hated terrorists, but he had never really come so close to interacting with them before. Looking over at the group of scared hostages, he decided to contact CTU himself. Picking up the phone, he dialled the number Sarah had used to contact him.

"This is Mamud again. I wish to make an offer – I will release three female hostages if you manage to get us in touch with Khalid," Mamud spoke, hoping that the agents would accept his offer. He needed advice from his leader, and needed it soon if he were to get out alive.

"I'll see if that is possible, and I'll get back to you," Sarah replied, tired but trying not to let it show in her voice.

**8.05pm, Cassars house**

As she woke up, Michelle turned to see how Alex was, but couldn't find him anywhere. Shouting Cassar's name, it took her a few times before he arrived at the door.

"What is it, Agent Dessler?," Cassar asked, slightly annoyed at the fact that his hostage was demanding his attention.

"Where's Alex?," Michelle enquired, looking straight at Cassar.

"He's in another room. I thought it would be wise to keep you two separated. You'll be able to see him when you are released later," Cassar replied.

**8.10pm, van, Templeton, California**

The van had stopped, and the slamming of two doors at once had made Alex nervous, until he smelt petrol and reasoned that they had probably stopped for gas. Deciding to take a risk, he moved his blindfold down slightly, so that he had at least some vision. It was dark and Alex could tell that it was night time. Sitting up as quietly as he could, Alex took a look around the van. Separating him and the front seats was a thin curtain, and Alex assumed that they wouldn't bother looking behind it unless he made a lot of noise. Pulling the blindfold completely off, he used what little light he had to examine the rope around his wrists, but soon discovered that it would be too hard, and take too long, for him to be able to gnaw through it. Freezing as the pair returned to the van, he listened in on what they saying, and discovered that they were at least a couple of hours away from their destination. Alex could only theorise on what sort of things were planned for him to turn him into a terrorist, but he was quietly determined to resist it all the way.

**8.15pm, White House**

Palmer was on the phone to President Khatami, trying his best to get Khatami to agree on Mamud's offer. He knew that it was, in a way, capitulating to the terrorists, but Palmer reasoned that it was worth ensuring at least three innocent people would be protected.

"I'll see what the INSI agents have to say, Mr President, but it is entirely up to them. They are the ones who know him best," Khatami said. If it were up to him, he wouldn't hesitate, but it wasn't, it was up to the people who had a real and accurate idea of who Khalid was and how he operated.

"Very well, Mr President, I will await your reply," Palmer spoke. Sighing, he put his head in his hands, and tried to block out all the stress. He knew that to be POTUS was to virtually carry the world on his shoulders, and he had been mostly successful. It was when he failed, he failed badly and it seemed that he was destined to be rememebered just as much for his mistakes as he would be for his successes. Palmer was fine with that, but he still wished that he had been better.

**8.20pm, Cassar's house**

In his office, Cassar was on the phone to his buyers. Although he wasn't yet in control of the shipment, he was confident that things were going well enough to suggest that he was.

"The shipment will be in Watsonville by tomorrow morning," Cassar spoke.

"Good, Mr Cassar. I'll meet you at the agreed meeting place tomorrow morning at 10am," his buyer, the voice disguised so much that he couldn't even tell if it were a man or a woman, replied, before hanging up. Placing the phone down, Cassar worked out his plan over the next few hours. If everything was to go as planned, he would be leaving his house shortly after 11pm, and be in Watsonville by half one in the morning. He had to deal with Alex first, but after that he could afford to sleep for a few hours before needing to get up around 6am to make sure everything was ready for the meeting. Although he had lost $240 million to Amador down in Mexico, he knew that he could get a much bigger price for his shipment.

**8.30pm, van, north of Templeton, California**

Alex was sat against the side of the van, carefully listening for any clues as to their destination or current location. He was wondering how Cassar was going to be able to change his mindset so radically, that it would somewhat similar to the psychotic mass-murderer mindset his sister seemed to have in her final few years. He knew that brainwashing came in many different ways, but there was surely no brainwashing method that could turn him in a few hours. Realising that Cassar planned to hold for him for quite some time, Alex began to grow concerned for his nephew. The kid had only known him for a few hours, and to him it might look as if Alex was abandoning him.

**8.35pm, outside supermarket, Douglas, Chicago**

Sarah was on the phone with Wayne Palmer. He told her that the Iraqis were going to allow Mamud to speak with Khalid. She watched as the phone rang inside the supermarket.

"This is Mamud," Mamud spoke in English, before the caller replied in Arabic. It was an INSI agent, telling him to put the phone on speaker, and that Khalid would talk to him and the other terrorists present. Doing as he was asked, Mamud and the other Al-Sufi members waited for a moment for Khalid to being speaking.

"This is Khalid, Mamud. I know that you are doing this to try and free me from jail, but this is not the way we operate. Taking Americans hostage on American soil will only get you killed, and us further from our goals. Therefore, I am asking you to surrender," Khalid spoke in clear Arabic, although his voice was tired. Mamud looked at the phone angrily, before pushing it off of the counter.

"He's being forced to say that! We will disregard his opinion!," Mamud shouted in Arabic, but the others disagreed. The hostages, as well as Sarah and the police, were looking at the terrorists as they began to argue. It would be their downfall, as five police officers plus Sarah managed to sneak into the building undetected.

"Why don't we calm down and drop the weapons?," Sarah spoke, as she pointed her gun right at Mamud. Cursing in Arabic, he refused to lower his gun for a few seconds, before relenting.

**8.40pm, CTU Los Angeles**

Chloe was busy talking to Jack on the phone. She had informed him that the shipment was in CTU hands, and that the hostage crisis in Chicago was over.

"Wait, this is all about AK-47s? Cheap, former Soviet weapons that any third-rate terrorist can get his hands on?," Jack replied, confused. Noone of Cassar's calibre would be so bothered about the weapons, no matter how many there were.

"That's all they found, Jack. I asked Curtis to look in every box, but it's just those guns," Chloe spoke, just as confused as Jack.

"Is there anything else on the ship that Cassar might be interested in?," Jack enquired. He was certain that the guns were not the shipment that Cassar was interested in, and wondered if they had even got the right ship.

"I'll contact Curtis, ask him to get his team to search the ship again," Chloe replied.

**8.45pm, White House**

"Thank you, Agent Henderson, your actions are appreciated both by the President and myself. Please pass on our thanks to all involved, and our condolences to the family of Office Arroyave," Wayne spoke to Sarah on the phone, pleased that the hostage crisis had been ended without a single bullet fired or hostage hurt, although the death of Arroyave was a tragedy that he was sure could have been averted if the media had not been tipped off to what was going on inside the supermarket. They were no closer to finding the leak, and Wayne wondered if the Al-Sufi group themselves had informed the media. It wasn't a new thing, terrorists had warned of bombs before they went off before, so it wouldn't be too different to inform them of an ongoing hostage siege.

"Today is one of the reasons why I won't be missing being President too much," David spoke as his brother finished on the phone. Two hostage crises in one day, and he was hoping that the turbulence of the day had settled down.

**8.50pm, Amador's ship, Pacific Ocean**

Curtis was in the room with the crates, where they had found the guns and where supposedly this shipment that Cassar was so interested in was supposed to be. Looking in one of the crates, he picked up one of the guns and examined it. It was certainly real, and it was one of hundreds on the ship.

**8.55pm, CTU Chicago**

Hannah was waiting for Sarah as she returned to CTU.

"Are you OK, Sarah? There's no news of Alex, and Josh thinks that you should probably go home and rest," Hannah asked Sarah as she walked towards her station.

"I'm a little shaken, but I'll fine, and I don't want to go home just yet, not when I have no idea of how Alex is," Sarah replied. She and Josh were close, even after their two year relationship, which had started soon after Alex had started at CTU LA, which had ended after they realised their work was seeping into their relationship too much. They were still good friends, though, and spent a lot of time together.

_**20:59:57**_

_**20:59:58**_

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_**21:00:00**_


	15. 9:00pm to 10:00pm

**9.00pm, Holding Room 1, CTU Chicago**

Mamud Ali was sat, handcuffed, in the holding room alone. Josh Papierski, SAIC of CTU Chicago, was watching him from the observation room. He could tell that Mamud was not someone who broke easily, and that he probably wouldn't get much information of use from him anyway. Deciding to have a try, he walked into the interrogation room, where he stood in front of the table that Mamud was sat at.

"Mamud Ali, 36 years old. Born in Basra, Iraq and joined Al-Sufi in 1994. Emigrated to America in 1999, where you've been all the place over the past nine years," Josh spoke, reading from a file he had in his hands.

"I don't need you to tell me all of that," Mamud replied without emotion. His deep brown eyes had not left Josh's eyes ever since he had walked into the room.

"No, but I do need you to tell me what your connection to Nestor Cassar is," Josh continued, placing a photo of Cassar onto the table in front of Mamud. He had been trying to find the connection himself ever since he had been informed of it, but with no luck.

"I've never seen this man before in my life," Mamud replied, smirking slightly. Josh slammed his palm on the table.

"That is not what I asked! What is your connection to Nestor Cassar?," Josh spoke louder and more forcefully this time.

"There is none, Agent. I have no connection to Cassar," Mamud replied. Josh, who was sure he was lying, decided to try another tactic. Gesturing to the mirror, he waited for a second before another agent, this time a redheaded man in his early thirties, came in carrying a briefcase.

"My friend here has some tools that I guarantee will get you to give me your connection to Cassar. Now, I'm going to ask you one last time before I let him loose on you. What is your connection to Nestor Cassar?," Josh spoke quietly with a threatening tone, his face close to Mamud's. Mamud didn't make a noise.

"Fair enough, Mamud," Josh spoke, before nodding to Phillip Klein, CTU Chicgao's interrogation expert. Taking out a needle, and remembering what had happened over at CTU Los Angeles when Nina Myers had been interrogated, he aimed not for the neck, but for the shoulder. Mamud grunted in pain as the needle was slowly pushed deep into him, before being pulled out just as slowly.

"This can go on for a long time, Mamud, and I intend to let him do it as many time as is necessary. What is your connection to Nestor Cassar?," Josh asked him again, his voice devoid of emotion. Mamud looked up at him and glared angrily.

"You think this is the worst pain I've experienced, Agent? Because it isn't! I've spent years in Iraqi jails during the time of Saddam Hussein, and pain there is on a whole different level to your idea of it," Mamud spoke, and Josh could see an haunted look in his eyes.

"Then tell me, what is your connection to Nestor Cassar?," Josh asked again, his voice quieter.

"It's not my business to tell you about the activities of other cells," Mamud spoke, caught off guard by sudden loss of anger in Josh's voice.

"Other cells? You mean cells here in the United States? Give me information about these cells, and we can give you a deal," Josh spoke. Mamud looked at him sceptically for a moment, before turning away.

"There's a cell in San Francisco, that's who Cassar is connected to, not me or any other member of Al-Sufi in Chicago," Mamud replied.

"Why are they so interested in AK-47s? Al-Sufi have much more modern weapons at their disposal," Josh enquired. Mamud looked at him, confused.

"AK-47s? I don't know what they're interested in, but it's not AK-47s. Cassar is selling them something far more dangerous," Mamud replied, wondering what guns had to do with Cassar. He knew little about the deal, but from what little he knew, he could tell that it had nothing to do with more conventional weaponry.

**9.15pm, house in San Francisco**

Naseem Al-Jamil looked at the television screen with a mix of anger and annoyance. Mamud had screwed up badly in Chicago, and he knew that the discovery of Al-Sufi cells in America would mean that his own cell could soon be targeted. Pushing a hand through his black hair, Naseem stood up and turned the television off. Looking at the clock and decided that he was to soon set off for Watsonville, he picked up his cell phone.

"Sabir, get the men ready. We leave for Watsonville in 45 minutes," Naseem spoke in clear English with a Jordanian accent. Although Al-Sufi was mostly Iraqi, Naseem was born and brought up in Jordan by Iraqi parents.

**9.20pm, CTU Chicago**

Josh was on the phone to Erin, and like him, she was confused as to the true nature of the shipment.

"CTU agents have looked in the crates, Josh, there's no sign of anything else other than the guns," Erin spoke.

"What are you planning to do after his men take the shipment?," Josh asked. He knew that the lives of Alex and Michelle depended on CTU allowing Cassar's men to take the shipment, but that it didn't mean that they couldn't do a thing about it after the two agents were released.

"We're going try to keep track of them, see where they go. I'm fairly certain that they'll go to San Luis Obispo at first, so their final destination is probably somewhere north of there," Erin replied.

**9.30pm, Holding Room 1, CTU Chicago**

"Here's the deal, Mamud. You give us all the information you have on Al-Sufi in the US, and in return, you'll only have to serve the minimum sentence for your crimes today, but if you return to terrorism, we'll seek life without parole and possibly the death penalty," Josh informed him. He didn't want to let Mamud get off so easily, but he realised that Mamud probably had a lot of useful information that no agency in the country had been able to get an hold of.

"Fine, I'll agree to that, as long as I'm protected both in jail and after my release. I know that they'll want to punish me for my dealings with you," Mamud replied. He knew that Al-Sufi came down hard on any member who betrayed them, and had seen many friends of his killed simply for even questioning one of their superiors.

"You'll be placed in a high-security federal prison, so you should be quite safe there. After your release, you'll be put into the witness protection program," Josh replied.

**9.40pm, house in San Francisco**

As Naseem got into his car, about to go to the other members of his cell who were congregating elsewhere, he placed a silenced gun under his seat, just in case. Driving off, he checked the clock on the dashboard. He would be at the meeting place in 20 minutes, just in time to start setting off for Watsonville. The next morning, he would be in possession of a deadly weapon that he planned to use to bring terror to the streets of San Francisco.

**9.45pm, van, Greenfield, California**

Alex, who had fallen to sleep, was suddenly woken when the van went over a pothole. Hearing the driver curse, he noticed that the van's back door had been knocked open, and was swinging as the van moved. Deciding to risk it, Alex allowed himself to roll out of the van, and groaned as he hit the ground. Getting to his feet, he was about to move out of the road when a car approached and stopped right in front of him. Noticing that the people inside were wearing balaclavas, he decided to run, only to be shot at from behind. Dropping to his knees, he cursed under his breath as he saw the van he had just escape from turn around. He could feel someone pushing a gun into the back of his neck, and as the van came to a stop, he realised that these people really weren't going to give him a chance to escape again. Suddenly, a boot slammed into his stomach, and he doubled over in pain, before his head was pulled backwards, and a blindfold placed over his eyes. Unable to see what was going on, he felt himself being pulled to his feet, before once again being returned to the back of the van. Hearing the door slam, before it was locked, he rolled onto his back and decided not to mess with the men.

**9.50pm, Kim's house, Valencia**

Kim was still worried about her father and Alex. She was sat close to the phone, and was drinking coffee in order to keep herself awake. Chase, entering the room, saw her and sighed.

"Kim, sitting there waiting won't help. Come to bed and get some rest, I've put Angela to bed and Joseph is in the guest bedroom," Chase spoke, looking at Kim with concern. Ever since they had started going out, he could tell that Kim was deeply attached to her father, and Chase wasn't surprised when he heard about her mother's death. Alex was slightly different, and Chase could tell that she saw him as a close friend, almost like a bigger brother or uncle to her.

"I wouldn't be able to sleep anyway," Kim replied, before taking a sip of her coffee. It had only been a month since the Cordilla virus plot, and Kim hadn't really gotten over it yet – she still wasn't really over her mother's death over, and that was six years before.

"Fine, but it could be hours before we hear anything," Chase replied. Kissing her on the cheek gently, he bid her goodnight, before leaving the room to go to bed.

_**21:59:57**_

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_**22:00:00**_


	16. 10:00pm to 11:00pm

**10.00pm, van, north of Greenfield, California**

Defeated, Alex was led on his back. He was still as determined as ever not to let Cassar brainwash him into becoming or doing something that went against everything he believed in, but he had no idea of what Cassar was going to do, which concerned him. Although he couldn't see anything, he could tell that a fourth person was now in the van, and he could also tell that the new arrival was in the back of the van with him. He was trying hard not to fall asleep, but the total darkness he was experiencing, plus the fact that he was exhausted, were making it very difficult for him to stay awake.

**10.05pm, van, south of San Francisco, California**

Naseem, Sabir and two other men were in a van themselves, but travelling south towards Watsonville. When they got there, they were planning to stay at an Al-Sufi safe house until the morning, when Naseem and Sabir would meet up with Cassar and make the deal. As Naseem sat back, listening to the radio which was playing the usual mix of pop and rock songs, he tried to forget about the mistakes made by Mamud in Chicago. He knew that someone from the main Al-Sufi group in Iraq would soon fly to America, and then it was only a matter of time before Mamud would be punished, and the cell in Chicago dismantled and moved to a different Midwestern city.

**10.10pm, Amador's ship, Pacific Ocean**

Curtis was looking at the distant coastline, and he could see faint lights at the top of the taller buildings. He had not been in Los Angeles for long, having transferred recently from CTU Boston, although he had worked with Jack Bauer and CTU Los Angeles before. He was perplexed as to why all this trouble was being made over a bunch of guns that probably cost no more than a few thousand dollars, which was nothing more than loose change to someone like Cassar, Turning around as another agent approached him.

"Are Cassar's men in place to receive the shipment?," Curtis asked the agent, a short dark-haired man called Alan.

"Yeah, they're ready. There's about 50 of them, probably to make sure we don't try anything. They have a lorry ready to take the crates to where ever the hell they want them," Alan replied.

"I just feel like we're missing something," Curtis said, and Alan nodded in agreement.

**10.15pm, Cassar's house**

Cassar had just been told of Alex's escape attempt, and he chuckled to himself. He admired the determination in the young agent, and knew that if he could get Alex to turn against CTU, that he would be as dangerous as any terrorist. Mumbling quietly as he went to check Michelle on the camera, his eyes widened as he saw that she was no longer where she had been. Turning around to grab his gun and leave the room, he saw Michelle, still handcuffed but pointing his gun at him. Taking the safety off, she motioned for him to sit down.

"Give me the keys for the cuffs," Michelle demanded, in no mood to be messed around with. Cassar reluctantly chucked him at her, and she watched him carefully as she unlocked the cuffs.

"This is quite the risk you're taking, Agent Dessler, I'm impressed," Cassar spoke. He knew that he and Michelle were now the only ones left in the house, and wondered if Michelle knew that none of his men were there.

"Where's Alex?," Michelle asked forcefully. She had not seen him for hours. Cassar looked at her and smiled.

"I'm not going to tell you anything about Alex," Cassar smirked, before Michelle fired a bullet right into his kneecap. Groaning in pain as he clasped his knee, he glared at her.

"Yes, you will, or I'll shoot you again, and again, in any part of you that can take it without the risk of you dying," Michelle replied. Cassar decided to go along with her.

"He's not here, Agent Dessler. He's in a van, and I won't reveal where that van is heading unless you allow me to leave myself. I would agree to this, seeing as I know for a fact that he's heavily guarded by my men," Cassar told her. Michelle looked at him, and decided to believe his story.

"Fine, but you tell me where that van is going first, not after," Michelle spoke.

"It's going to Watsonville, should be over half-way there by now," Cassar asked. Nodding, Michelle noticed a bunch of car keys on the table nearby.

"What vehicle are these for?," she asked, and Cassar realised that he would have to call for one of his men to get out of there, seeing as he only had one vehicle left.

"My car, it's the black one at the front of the house," Cassar replied, and Michelle grabbed them and a cell phone before slowly backing out of the room.

**10.20pm, CTU Los Angeles**

"Chloe, it's Michelle. Can you put me through to Jack?," Michelle asked Chloe as she spoke on the phone. She had parked the car in a quieter area a mile or so from Cassar's house, and was looking out for any of Cassar's men, or Cassar himself.

"Michelle! Are you OK? Yeah, I'll contact him now, he's at CTU in San Luis Obispo," a shocked but pleased Chloe replied. As Jack picked up the phone, he asked Chloe what she wanted.

"I'm putting you through to Michelle, Jack," Chloe told him, before doing so. A relieved Michelle informed Jack of her escape, and also of Alex's current location.

"What is he doing with Alex?," Jack asked. He had sent a CTU agent to find Michelle and guide her safely to CTUSLO, but was confused about Alex.

"I have no idea, Jack, but I don't think it's about what happened today. I think something bigger's happening, and we have no way of knowing what it is. Cassar has probably contacted one of his men to pick him, but if CTU are quick, we can grab him before he escapes," Michelle spoke, and she was tempted to go back there and arrest him herself.

"I'll send some agents there now," Jack replied.

**10.25pm, van, north of Chualar, California**

Alex was now asleep once more, and his quiet snoring was the only sound inside the van as it travelled towards Watsonville. The man in the back of the van with him was watching him closely, but he too was sleepy. The front passenger moved the curtain and peered at the two.

"Is it Alex who's snoring, or you?," He, whose name was Ronny, asked quietly.

"It's him, I'm still very much awake as you can tell. There's no harm in letting him sleep, at least he isn't trying to escape again," the man in the back, whose name was James, replied.

"That wasn't our fault! Besides, he had no chance of getting away, and even if he did, his hands are tied up. How far do you think he would have got like that?," Ronny spoke, before turning back again and letting the curtain fall into it's original place.

**10.30pm, van, Palo Alto, California**

Naseem was trying to get in touch with Cassar, but realised that Cassar had probably turned his phone off. Deciding to wait until later, he put the phone back in his pocket. He hoped that Cassar was sticking to schedule – he needed to have the shipment in his possession by midday if the plot was to go ahead as planned.

**10.35pm, Cassar's house**

Cassar had managed to limp towards the table in the kitchen where he kept a spare cell phone, and as he grabbed it, he noticed someone at the window. Turning to face them, he saw that they had a gun pointed straight at him. Lifting his arms into the air, he watched as another CTU agent entered the house and arrested him.

"Let me guess, you're CTU?," Cassar asked as he was led out of the house, but got no reply.

**10.40pm, Amador's ship, Pacific Ocean**

By now, the Los Angeles coastline was quite close, and Curtis was finding it hard to stay clam. The agents had found nothing more than a bunch of automatic guns, and he was sure that they were missing something. Even the news of Cassar's arrest didn't help – Alex was still in danger, and they couldn't stop Cassar's men from taking the shipment or they would kill him.

**10.45pm, CTU San Luis Obispo**

"Jack? When Cassar gets here, I want you to remain calm. I'll let you interrogate him as I know how good you are at getting information. We'll process him, so it'll be about 11 before you can talk to him," Paul Mason said to Jack as they waited for Cassar's, and Michelle's arrival at CTUSLO. Jack nodded.

"I just want to get my friends back, Paul," Jack replied. He was still concerned for Alex, even if Michelle was now safe. Checking the time, he realised that the ship was probably close to port now, if not already docked.

**10.50pm, Amador's ship, PoLA**

As the ship was docked, Curtis saw the large group of men awaiting them. All of them were armed, and Curtis knew that his team had no chance if a firefight broke out. Telling his team to slowly make their way off of the ship, he guided them back towards where a couple of CTU vans were lying in wait for them to go back to CTU. Glaring at the men as they started to unload the shipment, he promised himself that Cassar wouldn't get away with it.

**10.55pm, Holding Room 1, CTU Chicago**

Mamud had been kept in the holding room until he could be moved to Division for further interrogation. Entering the room, Josh saw that his head was lowered down to his chest. Concerned, Josh walked up to him and lifted his head up carefully. He didn't even need to check Mamud's pulse – the foam in his mouth told him that Mamud had killed himself with cyanide. Sighing as he slowly let Mamud's head drop again, he walked back out of the room.

_**22:59:57**_

_**22:59:58**_

_**22:59:59**_

_**23:00:00**_


	17. 11:00pm to 12:00am

**11.00pm, CTU San Luis Obispo**

Jack embraced Michelle as soon as she arrived at CTUSLO. Pleased that one of his friends was now out of Cassar's hands, he glared as the aforementioned terrorist was led past him.

"Are you OK, Michelle?," Jack asked, looking at his friend.

"I'm fine, Jack, just a little tired," Michelle replied, as the two walked into the main area of the building. It looked wildly different from CTULA, with it's furniture and walls being differing shades of blue, rather than the grey of LA's CTU building.

"I'm going to interrogate Cassar as soon as they let me, and I'm going to get Alex's location out of him no matter what," Jack spoke as he watched Cassar being led down towards the only holding room that SLO had.

**11.10pm, Cassar's building, Watsonville, California**

The first Alex had known of their arrival in Watsonville was when he had been dragged out of the van and pulled up to his feet. He felt someone grab his arm, before he was forced forward, and the journey had been going on for a few minutes before he felt warmer air, and could tell that he was now inside. He could hear a metal door being opened, before he was pushed to the floor. Leaning on his hands as he tried to sit up, the blindfold was taken off of him and the ropes cut off of his wrists, and he shut his eyes as soon as the light from the ceiling attacked them. Hearing a door slam shut, he opened them to find himself locked in a small cell. It had no windows, and was was about as tall as he was. There was a small slit in the door, through which he could see, but he saw nothing. Looking around what he could see, it looked as if he were in a hangar. This brought him to a conclusion as to his location – he was at Watsonville Municipal Airport. Sitting down next to the wall opposite the door, he wondered if his imprisonment in the hangar was going to be short-live. The airport wasn't huge, but if you had a private plane, you could reach almost anywhere in the Americas, and maybe even Northern Asia. He had visited the airport before as a CTULA agent, when they had had to arrest an American terrorist who was planning to flee the country after his plot had failed.

**11.20pm, PoLA**

Although they had finished loading the shipment, Cassar's men were unaware of his capture, and so proceeded to travel towards San Luis Obispo as if he were still at his house. CTU's plan to track them was not needed at this point, as they were almost certain that the men would go to Cassar's house.

**11.30pm, Holding Room, CTUSLO**

Jack had gone into the room, and was staring at Nestor Cassar. Deciding that time was of the essence, he got straight into it.

"Tell me where Alex Myers is being taken," Jack spoke, his voice forceful and loud. Cassar looked at him, and said nothing. This angered Jack, and he walked closer to Cassar – there was no table in between them, and it would have been easy for Jack to grab Cassar if he needed to.

"I will cause you a massive amount of pain if you do not tell me where he is," Jack whispered into Cassar's ear. Cassar smirked, before turning his head to face Jack.

"I would forget about him if I were you, Jack. Talking about forgetting, you seem to be very unconcerned about my little shipment," Cassar replied. Jack looked at him, but decided to stay with his original demand.

"Alex Myers is a friend of mine, and I will not forget him, so tell me where he is!," Jack yelled, and he was seconds away from clamping his hand around Cassar's neck.

"No, I won't," Cassar simply replied. Jack was pissed off at this point, and smashed his fist right into Cassar's face, sending him flying backwards. He walked out of the interrogation room, and into the observation room, where Paul and Michelle were watching.

"How good is your interrogation expert, Paul?," Jack enquired, as he watched Cassar lying on the floor, his hands wedged between the back of the chair and the floor, and his blood splattered both on him and the floor.

"He's one of the best, Jack. I'll send him in," Paul replied, his eyes also on Cassar. Jack nodded, before retuning to the interrogation room. Lifting Cassar back up, he walked around to face him.

"If you do not tell me where Alex Myers is, I will make sure you are tortured for as long as it takes for us to get every single bit of useful information out of you. Is that clear?," Jack spoke, his voice threatening. Cassar looked at him, and Jack could tell that he was trying hard not to show his fear. Both of their attentions turned to the interrogation expert, who had just walekd in.

"Hello Jack, I'm Shawn Pressman, interrogation expert," Shawn spoke, never making direct eye contact with Cassar. Placing the silver briefcase he had on a shelf close to the door, he opened it in full view of Cassar. As Shawn took a needle out, Jack looked at Cassar, whose eyes had widened. Sweat was already forming on his face.

"That needle he's holding, it's going to go deep into your shoulder, slowly. That's painful. Then he'll pull it out just as slowly, and that's extremely painful. If you tell me where Alex Myers is, he'll put that needle away, and it won't go anywhere near you," Jack told him, his voice softer but still forceful. Cassar sighed, his eyes never turning away from the needle.

"He's probably at Watsonville by now, in the airport. I have a private hangar there, but you'll have to be quick," Cassar informed Jack, and he was relieved when Jack asked Shawn to put the needle away.

"Why do I have to be quick?," Jack asked, slightly concerned.

"Because there's a plane coming to take him out of the country, and my men will take him whether I'm there or not," Cassar explained. Deciding to ask about the shipment, confident that Paul and Michelle were already contacting dispatching a tac team.

"The shipment, it isn't the guns is it? Tell me what the real shipment is, Nestor," Jack asked, and Shawn placed a hand on his briefcase, to encourage Cassar.

"No, it's not the guns, it's hidden underneath them, in a briefcase just like his," Cassar spoke.

"A briefcase? What is it, money? Drugs?," Jack asked. All this over something that could fit in a briefcase? It had to be something extremely valuable to someone.

"It's 50 vials of the most virulent strain of the Cordilla virus known to man. The scientists who made the original batch were able to weaponise it," Cassar confessed, and Jack's eyes went wide. It was the damn virus again, just a month after he thought it had all been destroyed. He walked quickly towards the door.

"If you and the Salazars hadn't been there, I would have already bought the virus, and none of this would have happened!," Cassar spoke, and Jack froze. Turning around, he simply took out his gun and shot Cassar's other knee. Walking into the main area, he saw Michelle busy talking on the phone. Grabbing the nearest phone, he called Chloe.

"Chloe, it's Jack. The shipment wasn't the guns, Cassar hid it under them. It's the Cordilla virus Also, I know where Alex is, he's being held by Cassar's men at Watsonville Municipal Airport," Jack informed her.

"They've already taken the shipment, Jack, but they're heading for San Luis Obispo. I don't think they know that Cassar's been arrested," Chloe replied. Thanking her, Jack got the attention of the agents present.

"There is currently a group of Cassar's men heading towards us with his shipment, and we need to stop it here. Inside one of the boxes, there is a briefcase with vials of the Cordilla virus inside. We need to secure the briefcase, and I assure you that as long as those vials are not broken, you are safe from the virus. Michelle, I want you to come with me, and I'm going to need quite a few other agents as well," Jack spoke.

**11.40pm, CTU Los Angeles**

As Curtis came into the bullpen, he was pissed with himself for missing the briefcase, even though he had been certain that there was none. He saw Chloe approaching him with a piece of paper, and became curious as to what she wanted.

"Curtis, I need you to take a tac team to Watsonville Municipal Airport, and take control of Hangar 24. Alex Myers is being held there, and we have no idea how long we have before he's flown out of the country," Chloe informed him, and Curtis nodded.

**11.45pm, Al-Sufi safehouse, Watsonville, California**

Naseem was getting annoyed. He still couldn't reach Cassar, and he was beginning to wonder if Cassar was having second thoughts about the deal, which angered him. The Cordilla virus would do a lot of damage, and he had plans to cause San Francisco terror that would stay with the city for years. Sighing, he decided not to bother trying to contact Cassar again until the morning, and decided to get some sleep.

**11.50pm, Holding Room, CTUSLO**

As a medic tended to both his knees, Cassar groaned. Both Michelle and Jack had managed to cause the kneecap to shatter, and he was sure that he would never walk again, or at least need a cane for the rest of his life. His plan had been to take Alex to a camp in rural Mexico, where he would have taken months if necessary to mould Alex into a terrorist. He knew that the plan could go ahead without him, but he also knew that because he wouldn't make it to Watsonville for the deal, his men would be targeted by Al-Sufi.

**11.55pm, Hangar 24, Watsonville Municipal Airport**

As the door suddenly swung open, Alex looked up to to see three men looking at him. Ordering him to get out, he did as he was told, only for his hands to be forced roughly behind his back, where they were tied tightly. A blindfold went over his head, and he was gagged. Getting anxious, Alex had no idea what they were going to do, and as he was moved forwards, he wondered if they were doing this to psychologically break him. He was pushed down onto the floor, and he heard a door of some sort slam behind him.

_**23:59:57**_

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_**00:00:00**_


	18. 12:00am to 1:00am

**12.00am, plane, Watsonville Municipal Airport, Watsonville**

Alex wondered why they kept bothering to put his hand behind him, as he managed to slowly get his hands around his legs. Taking off the blindfold, before removing the gag out of his mouth, he immediately realised that he was in a plane, and probably in the luggage compartment. Feeling around the ceiling above him, he found the cover that would give him access to the rest of the plane. Hearing nothing above him, he slowly and slightly opened it, before removing it completely, and finding it large enough for him to climb through, he couldn't believe his luck. The only lights he could see were obviously from outside, so he reasoned that there was no one else on the plane. Climbing into the main seating area, he stayed low so that no one could see him through the windows.

**12.05am, Al-Sufi safe house, Watsonville**

Naseem decided to check on Cassar, and see if he was in Watsonville. Calling Sabir, he planned to send him to the airport, where he knew that Cassar had a hangar.

"Sabir, go to Watsonville Airport and have a look around for Cassar. He has a private hangar, so check that out, but be careful," Naseem told him in Arabic as he chucked the van keys to him. Nodding, Sabir grabbed a gun before leaving the house.

**12.10am, plane, Watsonville Municipal Airport, Watsonville**

The door to the cockpit was open, and Alex could tell that there was noone inside. Sitting down on one of the seats, making sure that he couldn't be seen from the outside, he searched around, until he found an handgun. Checking to see if it had any ammunition inside, he decided to leave the cockpit, and hide in the seating area, as he assumed that the plane's pilot would be one of the first to enter the plane.

**12.15am, roadblock south of Santa Barbara, California**

Having quickly coordinated with the police, CTU had managed to set up a roadblock just south of Santa Barbara, which Cassar's men would have to go through if they wanted to be in San Luis Obispo as soon as possible. The roadblock was impressive, with many armed agents and police officers stood behind cars and vans, letting past civilians in a slow but orderly fashion. They knew that the shipment was being transported in a dark red van. A few miles away, three CTU helicopters – one carrying Jack and Michelle – were heading for the roadblock.

**12,20am, Watsonville Municipal Airport, Watsonville**

Sabir had arrived at the airport, and was now looking around the place. There were few people around at this time of night, and he was able to sneak towards Hangar 24 without being detected. Peering through a door at the back of the hangar, he saw no one, only a plane and a metal box that looked like it might contain luggage. Deciding to take a closer look, he opened the door and went inside.

Alex, who was looking out of a window, saw Sabir and assumed that he was one of Cassar's men. Moving slowly towards the front of the plane, he waited until Sabir's back was turned, as he examined the luggage box that had temporarily held Alex.

"Don't move," Alex spoke, as he pointed his gun at Sabir, who, after the initial shock, decided to comply.

"I'm sorry man, I wasn't going to steal anything," Sabir replied. He was assuming that Alex was one of Cassar's men as well. Turning him around, Alex looked at him, his gun still pointed directly at the Al-Sufi member.

"Cassar is in CTU custody, and the shipment is soon to be in our hands as well," Alex spoke, and Sabir realised that he wasn't one of Cassar's men after all. Cursing in Arabic, he ran at Alex, who instinctively fired, killing Sabir instantly. As the dead man's body slumped to the floor, Alex looked around, sure that someone was going to have heard the gunshot. Opening the metal box, he carefully placed Sabir inside, making sure he took Sabir's gun and vehicle keys. Noticing the logo on the keyring, he decided to try and find the vehicle they belonged to.

**12.30am, roadblock south of Santa Barbara**

The helicopters had landed on a field close to the road, and Jack and Michelle were now with the other agents monitoring the traffic. Jack had been assured that Curtis and his team were on their way to Watsonville, and that they would be there within the hour. Looking at the long line of traffic waiting to be let through, Jack spotted a dark red van. Running towards it, with Michelle following close behind it, he made sure that he wasn't in the sight of the driver. As he ran past the van, he turned around and went to the back.

"I'm going to open the door on three," Jack whispered to Michelle, who had her gun at the ready. Jack began to count down, before opening the door quickly, only for the three men inside to begin firing at him and Michelle.

"It's useless, you may as well give up! Cassar is in custody!," Jack yelled as he used the door as a shield. Firing again, he managed to hit one of the men. Shortly after, the gunfire from inside the van stopped, and Jack peered cautiously around the edge of the door.

"Get out of the van, now! Kneel down and put your hands behind your head!," Jack demanded to the surviving two men, who did as they were told. As two other agents handcuffed the pair, Jack looked at the solitary crate in the back of the van. Concerned, as he knew the men had taken at least 20 crates, he hoped that this was the one that contained the vials. Removing the lid, he saw the guns, and began to take them out one by one.

**12.40am, Watsonville Municipal Airport, Watsonville**

As Curtis's team got out of their helicopter, Curtis looked at Hangar 24. No one was inside, and Curtis was concerned to see the blood stains near a metal box. Heading towards it slowly, he held his gun at the ready, and as he opened it, he saw a body. Fearing the worst, he shone a torch at the body's face, and saw that it wasn't Alex. Relieved, he closed the door of the box slowly, before a car alarm pierced the silent air. Curtis, and his team ran towards the parking lot, where they saw a dark-haired man looking around worried.

"Hey, you, freeze! I'm a federal agent!," Curtis yelled, and Alex complied.

"Curtis, it's me, Alex Myers!," Alex shouted back, and Curtis approached him slowly, before recognising Alex. Lowering his gun, he looked at the other agent with relief.

"Cassar's in custody, and we think we've secured the shipment, Alex. It's the Cordilla virus," Curtis informed him, and Alex couldn't believe what he was hearing. The Cordilla virus was pretty much responsible for his sister's death, not to mention the death of Gael, Tony's imprisonment and Chase's injury.

"Cassar wanted to turn me into a terrorist, to brainwash me into becoming like my sister," Alex spoke as the agents headed back to the helicopter. As they did, Alex looked over at Hangar 24.

"There's a guy I shot in there. I thought he might have been one of Cassar's men, but he was behaving strangely. I think we should find out who he is," Alex said.

**12.45am, roadblock south of Santa Barbara**

Jack smiled broadly as he found the briefcase. Taking it out, he left the van, before placing it on the back of the vehicle. Slowly opening the case, he saw the distinctive white powder that was mechanised Cordilla. His smile soon left his face, however.

"There's only 25 vials here, we're missing half of them!," Jack shouted angrily, slamming the lid of the briefcase down.

"We're going to go back and talk to Cassar again!," Jack spoke loudly as he ran towards the helicopter.

**12.50am, Al-Sufi safe house, Watsonville**

Naseem was growing anxious. He had expected Sabir to call and give him any information that he could from the airport, although he also reasoned that Sabir was probably on his way home. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, Naseem returned to watching television.

**12.55am, CTU helicopter, Watsonville**

Having loaded the body of Sabir into a body bag then into the helicopter, the CTU team had started off on their journey to CTUSLO, which was serving as the main headquarters of the operation. They would be there within the hour, and Alex was relieved not to be in the hands of Cassar's men any longer. They had heard of Jack's discovery of half the vials, and Alex couldn't help but wonder if the man he had shot was from the people who were going to buy the vials.


	19. 1:00am to 2:00am

**1.00am, van, north of Santa Barbara**

The van and the people inside it didn't look at all suspicious. It was a clean white van, with three young men inside, who were returning to Watsonville after a party in Los Angeles. The agents at the roadblock had let them through, and now they were north of the city of Santa Barbara, with no more roadblocks in their way. One of the passengers made sure that the metal box under his seat was OK, as they had an especially precious cargo inside – 25 vials of the Cordilla virus.

**1.05am, CTU helicopter, south of Watsonville**

With a satisfied look on his face, Alex dialled the number for the FBI branch in Los Angeles, and waited for someone to pick up the phone.

"FBI, Hodges," a rather tired-sounding man spoke as he picked up the phone.

"This is CTU Agent Alex Myers, LA branch, speaking. I have information, and first experience, of a leak inside the FBI, involving a criminal that was arrested by CTU tonight, Nestor Cassar. The agent's name is Evan Sackhoff," Alex informed him. He had known Evan for a few years, as Evan was similar to him in that he had transferred from the Midwest – St Louis, in Evan's case – and both were federal agents. Evan had been quite the by the book kind of agent, so it was a surprise both to Alex and to Hodges that he had been leaking information to a notorious international criminal.

"To be honest, it all kind of makes sense now, Agent Myers. Thanks for calling, and I'll get this infromation to the Director as soon as possible," Hodges replied.

**1.15am, CTU San Luis Obispo**

As soon as Jack entered CTU, he made a quick beeline for the holding room. Forcing the door open, he looked directly at Cassar, who was looking quite fearful of Jack.

"We stopped the van you described, Cassar, but only found half of the vials!," Jack yelled angrily, and Cassar looked at him with confusion.

"I don't know what to say, Agent Bauer," Cassar replied quickly, his voice scared and panicky.

"You can say where the other vials are! Innocent lives are at risk here, Cassar, and I will do what it takes to save them!," Jack shouted.

"Look, if the vials are missing, I can at least tell you who's buying them. That's something, right?," Cassar spoke, trying to calm Jack down.

"Who?," Jack asked simply.

"An Al-Sufi cell from San Francisco. We were supposed to meet in Watsonville tomorrow morning," Cassar spoke, his voice calmer now that he was sure that Jack was going to calm down as well.

"How do you contact them? I want every single bit of information that you've got on your buyers?," Jack asked, sitting down opposite Cassar.

Meanwhile, in the main area, Curtis and Alex were entering, and Michelle noticed them straight away. Approaching Alex before embracing him, she felt like it was all almost over for them.

"Alex, I'm so glad to see you safe," Michelle spoke quietly as they embraced each other.

"So I am, Michelle." Alex replied. He had come so close to never seeing his friends again, or at least seeing them with his true nature and mindset. Not being able to think of a more terrifying situation than to be trapped within a murderous monster, he couldn't help thinking about his sister. He wondered if she too was brainwashed, or if her descent into terrorism had been natural, a choice she made by herself.

"I think you should call Sarah, Alex. She's been worried about you for hours, and I don't think she'll mind you calling her so early in the morning," Michelle said, and Alex nodded.

**1,20am, CTU Chicago, Chicago**

It was past 4 in the morning in the Midwest, but Sarah had not left work yet. She had spent the time catching up with any work she needed to do, and was sure she had done a week's worth of work in the past few hours. Her phone rang, and she grabbed it quickly, and as she heard Alex's voice, her face lit up immediately.

"Alex! I'm so happy to hear your voice! Are you OK?," Sarah asked, her voice louder than she had expected it to be.

"I'm fine, Sarah. They never got the chance to really cause me any harm, and they wanted to, Sarah. He was going to try and turn me into a terrorist, like Nina," Alex replied, before realising that he hadn't told Sarah something very important.

"Sarah, yesterday morning, two people visited me, and gave me custody of a little boy called Joseph. He's my nephew," Alex spoke, and it took Sarah a few seconds to realise who the child's parent was.

"Nina had a son? Was yesterday the first you knew of him?," Sarah enquired, curious. She wondered why Nina would have bothered having the child in the first place.

"Yeah. He looks a lot like her. Kim's looking after him, and I haven't actually seen him since I took him to Kim's house," Alex spoke, and he knew that he was growing attached to the kid, and he wondered how good a father he would be.

**1.30am, CTU SLO**

Michelle had just gotten the ID of Sabir from Forensics, and had informed Jack, who was glad to have a confimed link between Cassar and Al-Sufi. Returning to the interrogation room, he held up a cell phone.

"You're going to call Al-Sufi, and make arrangements for an earlier meeting. We'll take you to Watsonville, and you'll make the deal. If you don't you can expect to spend the rest of your life in prison," Jack informed Cassar. He hoped that Al-Sufi would agree to the earlier meeting time, and could only hope that they were able to get the missing vials out of terrorist hands as soon as possible.

"Fair enough," Cassar spoke, before Alex entered the room.

"Hello Jack," Alex spoke to him as the pair met for the first time in hours. Jack looked at his friend with relief.

"It's good to see you back safe, Alex," Jack replied, before leaving the room, much to Cassar's growing panic. Alex, seeing Cassar's face, could only laugh.

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you, Cassar. I just wanted to ask you something," Alex spoke, moving closer to Cassar as he did.

"Yeah? What's that?," Cassar asked, his voice trembling. He knew that Alex wouldn't hurt him and risk the loss of the vials, but part of him doubted that.

"You were going to brainwash me, turn me into a terrorist. Now, I have a question, did the same thing happen to my sister? Is that why you said you wanted to make me like her?," Alex spoke, his voice low and demanding. Cassar looked up at him, unsure.

"I don't know, Alex, I really don't. If she was, I couldn't tell," Cassar replied. Alex, who was listening to him carefully, nodded.

"I'll accept that for now, Cassar, but if I ever find out that you were involved in turning my sister into a mass murderer, you better hope your death catches you first," Alex told him, before leaving the room.

**1.35am, van, south of Santa Ynez, California**

The three men carrying the rest of the vials were tired as they continued their journey north, and they were lucky that the traffic from the roadblock had managed to clear away, leaving them alone, as they swerved from side to side. The radio, blasting heavy metal music, could be heard for miles, and it seemed as if the trio were unaware of how likely they were to be pulled over.

**1.40am, CTU SLO**

Alex was once more in the main bullpen of CTU, when Jack approached him.

"You feeling up to coming to Watsonville? We need all the agents we can get, and I'd prefer it if someone I knew well came along," Jack asked. Michelle was staying at CTU to help coordinate the mission.

"Yeah, I'll like to do that," Alex replied. He was adamant that the vials would not exchange hands. He, like everyone else, had thought that the Cordilla virus was destroyed in it's entirety, but no one had considered locating the rogue Ukrainian scientists who had created it. Ukraine was a place where Alex had been many times before – he and Nina were part-Ukrainian, with most of the rest of their ancestry being the usual white American mix of English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish and German – and it was were a lot of childhood memories were located.

As the CTU team and Cassar got onto the helicopter, they were going through the plan. Cassar would ring his Al-Sufi contact, asking for an earlier meeting. He would then be taken to where the vials were to be delivered, and take them to the meeting place. If all went well, then the vials would be secured, and Cassar and the Al-Sufi cell arrested.

**1.45am, Evan Sackhoff's house, Los Angeles**

As the FBI agents smashed through his door, Evan Sackhoff had no idea what was going on. Pushing a strand of blond hair out of his eyes, he realised that his game was up. As he was forced onto the floor, he wondered how they had found out – he had been assured by Cassar that Myers would be taken care of, and it wasn't like the FBI had any other clues as to his treachery.

"Evan Sackhoff, you're under arrest for treason," Hodges informed him as he pulled Evan to his feet. Hodges, a tall black man with cropped hair and brown eyes, was much taller and stronger than Evan, and so the mole didn't put up a fight.

"I'll come quietly, but how did you find out? At least tell me that!," Evan pleaded as he was led out of his house, but Hodges simply ignored him.

**1.55am, van, south of Santa Ynez, California**

Their luck had run out, and the trio groaned as they noticed the flashing lights behind them. Turning off the radio, before parking at the side of the road, they saw the sole occupant of the police car get out and approach them. He was a wiry dark-haired Asian man, who looked middle-aged.

"Good morning, boys. Mind stepping out of the van for a minute?," he, Officer Cheng according to his badge, asked as he stood next to the driver's door. He could tell that the men were fairly young, no more than late twenties, and sighed. He had seen so many young people throw their lives away, only to end up dead in a car crash before their lives had ever really begun. The driver, who was wondering what to do, decided that he had to get rid of the officer, and pulled out a gun. Before the officer could even react, a bullet went straight into his forehead, killing him before he even hit the ground. Looking down at his victim, the driver felt sick, but knew that he had to carry on if he wanted to live, fearing Cassar and Al-Sufi far more than he feared the authorities. Leaving the officer's body where it laid, he quickly drove off.

_**01:59:57**_

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_**02:00:00**_


	20. 2:00am to 3:00am

**2.00am, CTU helicopter heading for Watsonville**

Jack handed Cassar the cell phone, and instructed him to put it on speakerphone. Dialling Naseem's number, Cassar hoped that he would pick up.

"Cassar? What do you want?," Naseem spoke, his voice tired and it was obvious that he had been woken up by the phone ringing.

"I need to move the meeting earlier, by at least a few hours. I think the authorities know something is up, so we have to move quicker if we're going to do this deal," Cassar spoke, his voice calm and authoritative. There was a tense silence for a few minutes, before Naseem.

"Fine, I'll meet you at 5am at the designated rendezvous point, Cassar. You better not be planning anything," Naseem replied, before hanging up. Taking the phone off of Cassar, Jack checked his watch, and saw that they had just under three hours to prepare for the deal.

**2.05am, road south of Santa Ynez**

Officer Jones had been travelling south towards Santa Ynez, where he lived, after a long shift, but as soon as he saw the vacant police car, he knew that his day wasn't over yet. Turning abruptly, he parked up behind the other car, with his lights flashing as well to ensure no one crashed into him. Pulling out his gun, he walked towards the car, only to notice the body of Officer Cheng. Running towards the body, he called in his discovery and, finding the body dead, looked at Cheng's car. To his relief, it had a camera inside, which meant that the perpetrators would have been caught on tape.

**2.10am, Interrogation Room A, FBI Los Angeles**

Sackhoff was handcuffed to the chair, his head down as he realised just how much trouble he was in. Not noticing Hodges come in until he moved the other chair to sit down, he slowly moved his head up to look at his former colleague.

"Did it start with Cassar, or have you been working for criminals since you first graduated from the Academy?," Hodges asked, disgusted and a little disappointed at Evan. He had been one of the best agents that Hodges had had the pleasure of working with, and now he was nothing more than a traitor.

"Cassar was the only one, I promise you," Sackhoff replied. He had been approached by Cassar during a hard time a few years previously, when his gambling addiction had threatened his career and his health.

"Was your only real involvement with Cassar passing information regarding Michael Amador to Alex Myers, or have you leaked other confidential information as well?," Hodges asked, and he really hoped that it was the only time, that the damage Sackhoff had caused was minimal.

"No, it wasn't. I've leaked various documents to him, but nothing major. Mostly locations of where suspects were. I never put an agent in danger, I swear!," Sackhoff replied, but Hodghes scoffed.

"What about Alex Myers? Michelle Dessler? They may not be FBI, but they are federal agents just like I am, just like you were," Hodges told him, his voice raised.

**2.15am, CTU helicopter heading for Watsonville**

Alex's thoughts had returned to Nina, and he decided that he wanted to ask Cassar more about his involvement in the original Cordilla virus outbreak.

"How long had Nina been working for you, Cassar, or was it her first job with you?," Alex asked him, and Jack listened in. He was also curious as to the true nature of Nina's relationship with Cassar.

"Since she escaped from North Africa. A mutual friend managed to get her to Germany, where I was staying at the time. I had heard a lot about Nina, and so I didn't want to miss the opportunity to work with her. Most of the jobs she did for me were rather low-key, mostly deals for weapons and the odd murder of an informant," Cassar replied. He knew that what he was saying made him sound like a monster, but he knew he was a monster, and had given up trying to change or apologise years ago.

"What were you going to use the first batch of the virus for? Were you going to sell that to Al-Sufi, before Jack managed to stop Nina?," Alex enquired. Cassar cleared his throat before replying.

"I was going to sell the first batch, yes, but not to Al-Sufi. A contact of mine from one of the militias in Columbia was interested in buying the virus, and as far as I was concerned, it was to be nothing more than a business transaction. Luckily for me, the contact was swept up when the Columbian government arrested the remnants of Salazar's cartel after their deaths in Mexico," Cassar informed them.

"Why did you think that you could change me into something so fundamentally different to what I am?," Alex asked. He knew that there were many terrorists in the world, and that Cassar could probably afford to maintain a terrorist army of thousands if he wanted to,

"Because I believed that there was something genetic within your sister that made her the way she was. Like sociopaths and psychopaths are wired a certain way and cannot be cured, I believe that your sister's brain was wired to be the person she ultimately was. As you are her sibling, and therefore very similar genetically, I was hoping that you had the same capabilities," Cassar spoke, not noticing Alex turning angrier until Alex's hand grabbed his neck tightly,

"My sister was not born a monster, and neither was I! She was a good person for most of her life, and I don't know why she allowed herself to get caught up in terrorism simply for the excitement, or because it paid well, but I will never believe that she was naturally destined to be a murderer!," Alex shouted at Cassar, his mouth close to Cassar's ear, before he released Cassar and sat back down. His face red, Cassar coughed until his breathing returned to normal. Although he was tempted, he decided it was best not to reply.

**2.20am, Santa Ynez Police Station, Santa Ynez**

The police had been able to get the van's description and licence plate from the camera in Cheng's car, and had put out a be on the lookout, or BOLO request, to all law enforcement agencies within California. Cheng had been a popular officer around Santa Ynez, and his death was hard on his colleagues.

**2.25am, Interrogation Room A, FBI Los Angeles**

Hodges had been interrogating Sackhoff for quite some time now, and he felt as if he had gotten most of the information out of the former agent. Standing up, he didn't acknowledge Sackhoff as he left the room. Sighing to himself as he walked into the break room to get himself a drink, he wondered why a formerly loyal agent like Sackhoff would so easily turn against his friends and his country for money. If he had known about the gambling problems, he would have helped his friend get back on his feet, which made it all the harder for Hodges. Sitting down at the break room table, coffee mug held between his hands, he gazed at the clock and saw how early in the morning it was. Although he was used to hours of overtime, it had never usually involved bringing a traitor in.

**2.30am, gas station, Los Alamos, California**

The trio transporting the vials had stopped for gas on the outskirts of Los Alamos. Feeling very paranoid, they were trying not to draw attention to themselves, whilst at the same time looking out for any cops. The driver, a blond man called Michael, had gone in to the store to pay for the gas, when he saw a police car pull up outside. Running outside, he fired at Officer Jones, who was determined not to let the trio get away, and he was soon shot in the lung by Jones. Taking their chance, the other two decided not to incur the wrath of the terrorists, and drove off, leaving their friend bleeding on the gas station forecourt.

"Some friends you've got, buddy," Jones commented sarcastically as he radioed for an ambulance. He kicked away Michael's gun, before using what first aid skills he had to keep the kid alive until the paramedics got there, even though he felt sick that he was helping the person who most likely killed his colleague.

"I'm sorry, officer, for killing the cop. I, we, needed to get away or we would be dead," Michael croaked, struggling to breathe and talk at the same time.

"Dead? What are you talking about?," Jones asked, and he wondered if the kid was drunk or stoned.

"You got to contact the feds, officer. In the van, there's a box of this stuff called the cordella, cordelia,..Cordilla virus, and we're supposed to deliver it to this terrorist guy," Michael spoke, his voice panicky. Office Jones knew exactly what he was referring to – he knew of the Cordilla virus outbreak, but had thought that it had all been destroyed. Realising that the kid was probably very valuable to the feds, he used his radio to contact the FBI.

**2.40am, van, Los Alamos, California**

The remaining two couriers were still shocked at the events which had gone down at the gas station. Realising that they had to forget their friend until it was all over, they continued with their journey. The passenger who had been sitting in the middle, a brown-haired man called Xander, was now driving. He was not as good as Michael had been at driving, and he was even worse when he was driving under pressure, but the third man, who was the youngest, didn't know how to drive.

"Xander, settle down, we'll be there in less than an hour," the passenger, George, said as he saw how panicked his friend was. Xander looked over at him quickly.

"I will, I will, it's just that tonight has been one big mess. We should never had gotten involved with this," Xander replied. All three of them had needed money badly, and when Cassar had come along, offering them a million dollars each, they had just taken the money before hearing what Cassar had wanted them to do.

"Look, we all agreed to take the money, and any of us could have backed out, but we didn't. Now, we have to get this Cordilla stuff to Watsonville, where he'll give us our money, and we can go back to LA without anyone looking for us. I don't think that officer back there saw our faces," George replied, and Xander nodded manically.

"You're right, you're right. If they do come looking for us, we deny everything, OK? If they can't find any evidence that we were involved, they'll try and get us to confess if they think we were," Xander spoke, before trying to calm himself down.

"Do you think Cassar will be pissed at us for separating the vials into two?," George asked. It had been his idea to put half in one van and half in another, so that there was less chance of the authorities stopping one van and securing all of the vials at once.

"Doubt it. In fact, he'll probably think it was a good idea," Xander replied.

**2.45am, Watsonville Municipal Airport, Watsonville**

"I remember the last time I was here like it was yesterday," Alex quipped as the passengers got off of the helicopter. The meeting place was, luckily enough, Hangar 24, and so they had to be quick to set it up for the meeting. Cassar was walking with a cane, and so someone had brought a wheelchair and a table, so that Cassar could sit behind the table on the chair and the Al-Sufi members would be none the wiser.

"How many Al-Sufi members are you expecting, Nestor?," Jack asked as he examined the hangar. Noticing the metal luggage box that he knew Alex had spent the best part of a hour in, he was glad that he hadn't had to experience it.

"There's the leader, Naseem, and probably two others, although as Alex killed Sabir, Naseem will probably only have one other person with him. He knows how I work, and that's with just one bodyguard. That way, we only bring one other person, and keep those in the loop to a minimum," Cassar explained as Alex pushed him on the wheelchair towards the makeshift table.

"Do you know where they are at this moment in time?," Alex asked, as Cassar placed the briefcase on the table.

"No, but I know that they are somewhere in Watsonville. They won't be around here at the moment, although I do wonder what Sabir was up to," Cassar replied.

**2.55am, gas station, Los Alamos **

Officer Jones had been trying his best to keep Michael concious until the ambulance arrived, but he was worried that the kid would die before it get there. The problem was that the gas station was off the road by some miles, and unless the paramedics knew of it, the kid would die long before they found the station.

"Hey kid, stay awake, come on! You're going to help them find your friends, and I promise they'll protect you," Jones spoke, encouraging the younger man, but suddenly Michael began to cough up blood. Worried, Officer Jones looked around for the ambulance and, as Michael took his last breaths, he held the kid's hand until he died.

_**2:59:57**_

_**2:59:58**_

_**2:59:59**_

_**3:00:00**_


	21. 3:00am to 4:00am

**3.00am, Kim's house, Valencia**

"Nina!," Kim shouted, before sitting up abruptly in bed. Checking the clock, even though she knew what time it was, she groaned. Every night since Nina had died, the dream had occurred, and it showed no sign of going away.

"The dream again, Kim?," Chase asked sympathetically, still half-asleep. He had been worried about this nightmare just as much as Kim had, and had asked her to go and see a counsellor, but she had told him that she was sure it was going to go away with time. Hearing Angela begin to cry, Chase sighed, before getting out of bed. The dream always ended with Kim screaming, and it always woke Angela up. As he passed by the guest bedroom, the door creaked open, and he saw Joseph standing there, rubbing one of hie eyes.

"Who's Nina?," Joseph asked, and Chase knew that he couldn't tell him the truth.

"It's someone Kim knew a long time ago, Joe. She sometimes has upsetting dreams about her friends, but it's OK now. Go back to bed and try and go to sleep again, OK?," Chase spoke softly, and the kid nodded, before closing the door again.

**3.10am, van, Nipomo, California**

Xander breathed deeply as the cop car passed without noticing them. As soon as he could, he turned a corner and stopped the car. George looked confused.

"What's the matter?," George asked. He had never seen Xander so anxious, especially as Xander always seemed to be the most laid-back person he knew.

"We need a new vehicle. How about that one?," Xander replied, pointing at a green car parked on the other side of the road. It was a fairly quiet road, with no one else around, and as Xander got out and walked towards the car, George grabbed the box of vials and went after him.

"Xander, we can get a new vehicle in less than 25 minutes, when we get to Cassar's house," George asked as he watched Xander look for something to smash the window with.

"That might be too long for us to last, there's cops everywhere! It's best if we dump the van and continue with a car they aren't looking for!," Xander replied, before picking up a rock and smashing it into the driver's window.

**3.15am, Kim's house, Valencia**

As Angela fell back asleep, an exhausted Chase went back to his room, only to find Kim dialling a phone number.

"Who are you calling at this hour?," Chase asked, although he had a good idea who.

"CTU, they haven't called yet so I'm going to call them," Kim asked, until a very tired Chloe picked up.

"Chloe, it's Kim, is there any news on my dad and Alex?," Kim asked.

"I'm sorry, I should have called earlier. Yeah, your dad and Alex are safe and they're still on a mission. Look, Kim, it's going to be OK. There's almost no danger involved in what they're doing, and they should be done in a few hours," Chloe told her, hoping that it would be enough. Relieved, Kim thanked her.

**3.20am, Cassar's house**

Two very bored CTU agents had been posted at the house for the last few hours, just in case anyone turned up. They had been sat inside the kitchen, playing with a pack of cards that they had found in one of the drawers.

"I don't think anyone's coming, Kevin," one of the agents, a short man with red head and green eyes said as he finished off a cup of coffee. Kevin, a much taller man with brown hair and brown eyes, looked at his partner with weary eyes.

"I think so, too, but if we leave now and someone does, you know how Mason will react," Kevin replied. The other agent, James, nodded. Suddenly, a car pulled up outside, and the two agents pulled out their guns.

Xander was sure that he had seen a light quickly go off inside, but assumed that he was seeing things. George, carrying the vials, entered the house first, only to be grabbed by Kevin, who took him straight back outside. Xander began to run around the corner of the house, only to be greeted by James.

"How about that? These guys are like buses, you wait hours for one, and two turn up at once!," Kevin quipped as James handcuffed Xander.

"We need to get those vials to Watsonville as soon as possible. Call CTU and tell them to get a chopper ready," James spoke as he took the vials off of George, who was then cuffed by Kevin.

**3.30am, Al-Sufi safe house, Watsonville**

Naseem and his other man, Behrooz, were getting ready for the meeting. They would set off at 4, before spending some time casing the airport for any signs of the authorities or extra men of Cassar's. As it was late in the year, the night was long, and due to the meeting being much earlier, they now had the advantage of darkness.

"Have you heard from Sabir in the past few hours?," Naseem enquired.

"No, last I spoke to him was before you sent him to the airport," Behrooz replied, and Naseem was worried for his friend, and anxious that he had been caught. He knew that no matter what, the strange disappearance of Sabir meant that they had to be even more careful than usual.

**3.40am, Hangar 24, Watsonville Municipal Airport**

Apart from Alex and Jack, all the CTU agents had moved out of the hangar, and were now hidden around the airport, awaiting the meeting which was to take place at 5am. Alex, who was stood close to Cassar, was looking at the plane that he had been held in earlier that night.

"We would have got you to my camp in Mexico by dawn if I had been successful," Cassar spoke, himself looking at the plane.

"Do you know that she died at 3am, Cassar? 40 minutes ago, it was 28 days exactly since she died," Alex replied, not really paying attention to Cassar.

"I'm sorry, Alex," Cassar said, but Alex simply scoffed.

"No, you're not. You couldn't care less about me, and you certainly couldn't care less about Nina. You just used her like every other terrorist she worked for did," Alex replied, his voice bitter and angry,

"She made the choice, Alex. I know that I used her, but she didn't have to become a terrorist," Cassar said, and Alex nodded.

"If you're so upset about that, why try and force me to become like her?," Alex spoke, and by now he had turned around and was stood right in front of the table Cassar was sat at.

"Because deep down, I know you want revenge on Jack. I know that there's a dark part of you that feels angry at him for killing your sister and wants to act on those feelings," Cassar spoke, only for Alex to backhand him hard. Jack, who was listening in, had moved closer. He knew that Alex understood why he had to kill Nina, even if he had told Jack that he would never forgive him.

"I don't, Cassar. Revenge is what caused my sister's death, and I won't perpetuate some sick cycle of vengeance," Alex spoke, his voice loud and angry.

**3.50am, CTU helicopter heading for WMA**

Kevin and James were accompanying the pilot on the journey to Watsonville with the other 25 vials. They were scheduled to arrive at 4.30pm, which would give them plenty of time to place all of the vials together in time for the meeting. CTU had already contacted Alex and Jack, who were awaiting the last half of the vials.

"When we get there, we got to give them the vials then get out of there quick. We can't have agents running around when the other party gets there for the meeting," Kevin told James.

**3.55am, Hangar 24, WMA**

Alex and Jack had left Cassar handcuffed to his wheelchair and had retreated to a corner of the hangar away from him, in order to have a private discussion.

"Is that true, what you said back there? You don't harbour any need for revenge?," Jack asked. He knew that Alex certainly wasn't the type to seek revenge, and saw the death of Amador as an extraordinary anomaly caused by extraordinary events. Alex looked at him and nodded.

"Yeah, it's true. Jack, I don't want to take revenge against you or Kim or anyone. Ever since Teri died, I've tried to be a friend to you and Kim. Sometimes, that's caused one or both of us pain, and sometimes it's been a friendship that did a lot of good. I understand why you killed her, just like I understood your anger at being betrayed by her," Alex replied.

"I just wish things had been different. If I had known early on that she had been cooperating with terrorists, I would have risked my career to help her, to get her away from them, because at one time, we were the best of friends, and a great team. I suppose that's why it hurt so much when I realised that she had betrayed us all, and when I found my wife dead because of her, I couldn't comprehend anything, as if the Nina I knew had just been replaced, in every single way, with some creature, some monster that looked human but wasn't," Jack said, his voice melancholic.

"So do I, Jack," Alex replied.


	22. 4:00am to 5:00am

**4.00am, WMA**

Naseem and Behrooz, his other accomplice, had managed to make it to the airport, after being forced to use an old motorcycle that was kept in the yard of the Al-Sufi safe house. Finding the airport satisfactorily quiet and deserted, Naseem looked around before noticing the van Sabir had used. Finding no sign of Sabir, or the van keys, he decided that Sabir was probably somewhere in the airport. Ordering Behrooz to go and look for him, Naseem began to circle the perimeter.

**4.05am, Interrogation Room A, FBI Los Angeles**

Bill Hayes, SAIC of FBILA, was not happy. He had been disturbed in his sleep to come to the office to speak to Sackhoff, and as the the tall, grey-haired man walked through the office, he muttered to himself. His boyfriend was used to the constant need for him to visit the FBI office at weird hours, but these visits were never to come and interrogate some agent who had turned against his or her country. Opening the door to the interrogation room and finding Sackhoff asleep, he slammed the door, and Sackhoff jumped up awake. He was about to curse at whoever entered the room, before realising that it was his former boss.

"I didn't believe them when they told me that Evan Sackhoff had been charged with treason, but now I see it's true. It's a huge disappointment to me, son," Bill said in his Texan accent as he sat down across from Sackhoff, his weary green eyes watching the former agent.

"I needed the money, sir, I had problems and I know I should have got the money in more legit ways," Sackhoff replied, and he sounded like he was pleading for some sort of mercy.

"You're damn right you should have, Sackhoff! Do you know how long you're going to spend behind bars for treason, and that's if you plead guilty and the judge doesn't give you the death penalty!," Hayes spoke with a loud, booming voice. He was not just angry at Sackhoff for breaking the law, he was also disappointed that an agent he had trained, an agent he had trusted, had committed treason.

"I'm sorry, sir. I'll tell you everything that I gave to Cassar," Sackhoff replied, ready to do anything that would help him when he was sentenced to whatever punishment he was going to get for his treachery.

"Yes, you will. Bear in mind that if one of those CTU agents had died tonight because of Cassar, you would be an accessory before the fact to murder of a federal agent, which may I remind you is punishable by death," Hayes replied, his voice quieter but still serious and angry.

**4.15am, CTU Los Angeles**

For the past few hours, Chloe had been the most senior agent in the building ever since Erin and Curtis – who was the new Chief of Staff – had gone home. She considered herself lucky that there had only been a few agents actually in the building for the past few hours. Now, she was the only one left, bar the security guards, one of whom came up to her.

"Agent O'Brian, maybe you should go home, get some rest? No one else is here, and you've been here for hours!," The guard, a young blond man called Larry, asked her.

"I'm fine, but you're right. I'll go home, get some rest," Chloe replied, logging off of her computer. She welcomed the end of her long shift, but knew that Jack could quite easily want her for something.

"If Jack calls for me, tell him to ring my cell, OK?," Chloe asked Larry as the two walked towards the underground garage. Larry nodded - he knew that Jack relied a lot on Chloe, and knew of the importance of quick communication between the pair.

**4.20am, WMA**

Naseem and Behrooz had met back up, and neither had found anything out of the ordinary. Deciding to go back to their car and wait until it was time to go to the meeting, neither of them wondered where Sabir was. Although it was out of character for the young Iraqi to suddenly disappear, they knew that they couldn't dwell on things that were out of their control.

Suddenly, as they were getting back into their car, they heard a helicopter, and as they looked up at the night sky, they could see one landing close to Hangar 24. Driving off, they parked so that Hangar 24 was in full view, and watched as the helicopter landed. Thinking it was Cassar, they were surprised to see two young men jump out of the chopper, run into Hangar 24, then run back to the helicopter. Having no idea who these men were, they tried to have a good look at the helicopter as it began to rise up into the air again.

**4.25am, Hangar 24**

As Jack took the handcuffs off of Cassar's wrists, Alex place the second 25 of the vials into their original places in the briefcase. Finishing the job, he shut the case , before looking out of the hangar. Cassar had told them that Al-Sufi often cased meeting places before the actual meeting, but the agents had not noticed anyone snooping around.

"34 minutes to go, Cassar," Jack said as he checked his watch, before the two agents walked back into the darker part of the hangar, where they were to stay hidden behind a couple of crates. Although they were quite far from Cassar, they could see the front of him and the table, and would be able to fire from their position if they needed to.

**4.30am, Kim's house, Valencia**

Although Kim was now sound asleep, Chase was still wide awake. He was lying in bed, thinking about the night Nina died. His first meeting with her was when she had taken him hostage, and knowing what kind of person she was, he had been scared of her, although he had tried hard not to let Nina, or Jack, know. When Jack had found them, he had punched so hard, and then tried to get him to leave. He had tried to stay there, fearing that Jack was about to take the law into his own hands, but had left, and was strangely glad to see Nina alive. His warning to her to stop messing Jack around had been met with derision, and he was sure that she was soon going to be dead. Comforting Kim after Jack had indeed put an end to Nina Myers, he knew that Jack had not killed in self-defence, that he had taken the law into his own hands. It felt weird to him, defending a terrorist against a federal agent, but Chase hated murder and murderers, as one of his best friends had been murdered some years before. He had seen Alex minutes after bringing Nina back to CTU, and his first reaction was to ask if he was adopted. Although the two were obviously siblings, they had wildly different mindsets, and Alex's moral compass was totally different to Nina's totally non-existent one. He had no idea why he was fixated on Nina, and hoped that like Kim's dream, it would fade with time.

**4.40am, WMA**

Naseem and Behrooz had decided to stay where they had parked when they were watching the helicopter, and they were getting nervous. Even though they were by now highly suspicious, they knew that the Cordilla virus was central to their plan, and to leave without it would not only constitute a massive failure, but would see them targeted by their own organisation. Talking to each other quietly in Arabic, they knew what their plan was for the meeting – keeping it short, they would go in, offer a certain amount, Cassar would agree, they would get the virus, and they would leave as soon as possible. They intended to be back in San Francisco as soon as possible, as the plot was to be carried out the day after, and they still had a lot of planning to do.

**4.45am, CTU SLO**

Michelle was hard at work, making sure that everything was set up for the meeting between Cassar and Al-Sufi. The plan was to allow the meeting to go ahead, before surrounding the hangar and arresting any members of Al-Sufi present. She was tired, but glad that it was all almost over. It had been another one of those days, and the first one without Tony at her side, working with her. She missed Tony, even though she visited him on a regular basis, and hoped that Palmer would be able to sort out a pardon for him.

**4.50am, WMA**

Naseem and Behrooz decided to move the car closer to Hangar 24. They had not seen or heard anything suspicious since the helicopter, and had begun to think that it was Cassar's helicopter, and that the two men were employed by him. They had no idea why the men quickly ran in and then out of the hangar, but reasoned that it was something to do with the meeting.

Climbing out of the car, and beginning to walk towards the hangar, they had their guns at the ready, placed in holsters. Looking around Hangar 24, they saw nothing out of the ordinary, and walked inside.

"Hello, Mr Cassar, so we finally meet," Naseem spoke as he walked towards Cassar. Shaking hands, Naseem noticed the briefcase on the table.

"This contains the virus, I presume? Me and my organisation are willing to pay you a lot for these vials, Mr Cassar," Naseem said as he ran a hand over the smooth case.

_**4:59:57**_

_**4:59:58**_

_**4:59:59**_

_**5:00:00**_


	23. 5:00am to 6:00am

**5.00am, Hangar 24, Watsonville Muncipal Airport**

"How much are you seeking, Cassar?," Naseem asked as he placed a laptop on the table. It was to be used to transfer money from their account to Cassar's.

"I won't sell the virus for less than $500 million, Naseem, and that's my only demand," Cassar replied, his voice cool and calm. Naseem nodded.

"Fair enough, but we won't go above it either, so $500 million is your offer. May I take a look at the vials?," Naseem asked, and Cassar nodded. Opening the case carefully, Naseem took out one of the vials, holding it up to eye level. It certainly looked like the white powder he had been expecting. Placing the vial back into the case, he turned on his laptop.

"It's 100% Cordilla virus, weaponised so much that the incubation time is far less than the one used a month ago," Cassar informed Naseem, and Michelle muttered under her breath. She had been caught up in the hotel where hundreds of people had died because of the virus, and Cassar was treating it like an everyday event,

"Then it will be very useful for us," Naseem replied. He wanted the virus to work quickly, so that the damage would be done sooner rather than later.

"It's the last batch, though, as I'm sure I heard that the guys who made it got arrested in Europe a while back," Cassar explained, although he was making this up as far as he knew.

"I'll transfer the funds to the overseas account you told me about, and you can confirm that with your bank as soon as I've finished, Cassar," Naseem informed him.

Jack and Alex were watching the deal, and Michelle was listening in via a microphone underneath the table. She was able to comment on what was going on to Jack and Alex via earpieces. They knew that it would soon be time for them to strike.

"I've transferred the funds, so if you wish, you can make that call to your bank," Naseem said as he closed the laptop.

"I'm going to take your word for it, Naseem. The vials are yours," Cassar replied, and as the two men shook hands, the CTU team scattered around the airport started to close in on the hangar.

Naseem smiled as he picked up the briefcase, and the pair were about to leave when Jack and Alex took their chance, and stood up.

"Freeze, federal agents!," Jack yelled, and Behrooz aimed to fire at him, before being cut down by Alex. Naseem, who looked furious, was glaring at the two as they approached him.

"You can stop us, but we'll be replaced by others," Naseem shouted as Alex handcuffed him.

"If they're anything like you Naseem, they surely won't pose much of a threat!," Alex told him as he led Naseem towards a waiting van. Jack, who was carrying the laptop and briefcase, instructed a couple of agents to send Cassar to CTU Los Angeles.

**5.30am, Interrogation Room A, FBI Los Angeles**

Hayes came back into the room, and Sackhoff wondered what he wanted.

"Some good news, Evan. The plot to sell the virus has been foiled, and it's now securely in CTU hands. That should help you when the time comes to decide your fate," Hayes explained, and Sackhoff was visibly relieved.

"This should never have been allowed to get this far, sir," Sackhoff replied, and Hayes nodded.

"Look, Evan, I'm going to be frank with you. You're facing a long time behind bars no matter what, but I think I can get the judge to be a bit merciful on you," Hayes said, and Sackhoff looked at him curiously.

"How do you mean?," Sackhoff asked, although he didn't know if he wanted to know the answer to his question.

"Let's say you were forced to do what you did, as if Cassar threatened your life. I mean, even if Cassar denies it, who's going to believe him?," Hayes replied, and Sackhoff could tell that he was trying to help him by possibly perjuring himself.

"What about Hodges? He knows why I did it," Sackhoff asked, but Hayes just shook his head.

"I can deal with Hodges, and I'll convince him that our way is the better way," Hayes replied, and he stood up as if to leave the room.

"Fine, sir, but I don't know why you're bothering," Sackhoff said, and Hayes looked hurt.

"You don't know why? Evan, I'm going to give you some time to think about why I'm bothering. I'll let you remember the days and weeks I dedicated to you when you first started here, and the times I've helped you when things went wrong," Hayes replied, before leaving the room.

**5.40am, CTU helicopter heading for CTU Los Angeles**

Jack and Alex were in one helicopter heading for CTU Los Angeles, whilst Michelle would be in another heading back to the city. The pair were exhausted, and they knew that they had survived yet another long day of ordeals.

"You know, I'm not ruling out ever forgiving you for killing Nina, I just don't think I can do that right now," Alex spoke.

"You can take as long as you want, and even if you never forgive me for it, I understand why," Jack replied. They were hoping to get back to Los Angeles soon, to be reunited with friends and family, and to return to the almost normal lives they led.

"Erin probably won't sack me after this, Jack, but I'm concerned that she'll sack you anyway, because of the drugs," Alex spoke. He, like many people within CTU, knew that Jack's career was hanging by a thread, and that Erin was almost certainly going to fire him.

"Maybe I need a change, Alex, a chance to start fresh and leave behind the last few years. Maybe someday, I'll be glad that Erin sacked me, that she forced me to change for the better," Jack said, his eyes looking out over the coast, which was gently illuminated by the full moon and the stars.

**5.50am, Al-Sufi safe house, San Francisco, California**

Now that they had a charge against Naseem, CTU San Francisco decided not to waste any time, and as the door was smashed in, and as the CTU agents swarmed inside, they found piles upon piles of weapons, ammunition, fundamentalist texts and fake Ids. They could tell from all the paraphernalia that the group had been recruiting and had also been plotting major terrorist attacks across Northern California. As they raided room by room, they uncovered more and more evidence that would send Naseem and Behrooz down for the rest of their life.

One agent had found a book and, leafing through it, realised just how close they had come to suffering a terrorist attack in the city. It seemed that the Cordilla virus was destined to be used to bring terror to the streets of San Francisco.

**5:59:57**

**5:59:58**

**5:59:59**

**6:00:00**


	24. 6:00am to 7:00am

**6.00am, Interrogation Room A, FBI Los Angeles**

Sackhoff was to be taken to a local jail to be held on remand, and as he was led out of the interrogation room and into the corridor, he saw Hayes standing there. Looking at his former boss, he had taken the time to think about everything that Hayes had done for him, and knew that no matter what he said, he couldn't show all of his gratitude in one small sentence in a few seconds. Even so, he still felt the need to say something.

"I realise that you've helped me in so many ways, sir, and although I've let you down today, I know that I can rectify that by taking responsibility for my actions," Sackhoff spoke as he stood in front of Hayes.

"Evan, I know you'll take the responsibility, because I know that's the kind of agent, kind of person that you once were, and I hope still are. Good luck, Evan," Hayes replied, before Sackhoff was taken out of the building. Watching his former protege leave in disgrace, Hayes sighed. He had known of many agents who had turned against their country, but like a doting father, he had never thought that one of his own agents, the ones he had trained himself, would turn out to be traitors.

**6.10am, CDC Watsonville, Watsonville**

Although CTU were keeping hold of a couple of the vials, most of them were to be sent to the CDC, where they would be destroyed. As a CTU agent walked into the building with the briefcases, the CDC representative there to meet him sighed. He had thought that the world had seen the last of the Cordilla virus, and was only too glad to see it be disposed of before it could harm anyone.

"Hello Agent Daniels, I'm Roger Manning. These are the vials of the Cordilla virus, correct?," Roger asked as he was handed the briefcase.

"Yes, sir. CTU are keeping five as evidence against the arrested parties, but the others can be disposed of as soon as you can," Daniels replied. Carefully, Manning opened the case, and inspected the remaining vials.

"45 vials of a virus, customised by humans to harm humans. You know, I take great pleasure in the knowledge that these vials will soon be destroyed, and their lethal payload eliminated," The representative spoke. As Agent Daniels left the building, Manning took the case into a storage room. Placing a yellow warning tape around it, he knew that the vials would be destroyed by midday.

**6.15am, CTU Los Angeles**

As Alex and Jack walked into CTU, they saw that Michelle was waiting for them.

"Welcome back. Erin's give us the day off, to get some rest, so I'm going to head home soon," Michelle spoke. She was visibly and physically exhausted, and was glad that her brother Danny was willing to pick her up from CTU.

"You deserve it Michelle, we all do," Alex replied. Suddenly, someone else entered CTU, and as they turned around to see who it was, they were surprised to see Sarah Henderson.

"I'm so glad to see you, Alex!," Sarah spoke as she approached the trio. Alex looked at her, pleasantly surprised but curious.

"It's good to see you too. Did you come by plane?," Alex replied, and Sarah nodded.

"I got on the first flight I could make so I could be here as soon as possible," Sarah spoke.

**6.20am, Holding Room 1, CTU Los Angeles**

As Cassar sat in the room alone, he sighed. His plan had been utterly defeated, and he knew that if things had gone differently, that he would be a much richer man right now, and that he would have been much closer to getting a replacement for Nina by turning her brother. Thinking of Alex, he was surprised to see him enter the room.

"Hello again, Nestor," Alex spoke, staying near to the door. He didn't want to stick around for too long.

"Hello, Alex," Cassar replied. He wondered what Alex wanted.

"I just wanted to come and speak to you before I left. There's one question I have for you, and I would appreciate a truthful answer from you," Alex asked.

"Ask me anything you want, Alex, and I'll give you the truthful, honest answer you're looking for," Cassar replied. He had gained a lot of respect for the determined young agent who had put up a fight all the way, and he knew that it wouldn't hurt to be honest to him.

"Did you ever try and change Nina back? I mean, if you can brainwash someone, could you not un-wash their brain? I know that Nina may not have been brainwashed, but it's possible anyway, right?," Alex asked.

"No, Alex. I could lie and say that if I knew how, that I would have, but I neither know how to reverse brainwashing methods, nor would I have tried to change her," Cassar replied, and Alex nodded.

'Thanks for being honest, Nestor," Alex spoke, before leaving the room.

**6.30am, Al-Sufi safe house, Watsonville**

As CTU had seized the van that Sabir had travelled to the airport in and had Naseem in custody, it was only a matter of time before they discovered the safe house in Watsonville. Although smaller and less used than the one in San Francisco, it still proved to be a huge haul of evidence of the cell. Iraqi President Khatami had been told of the elimination of both the Chicago and San Francisco cells, and he had passed on his congratulations to President Palmer.

**6.35am, Kim's house, Valencia**

As Kim went to answer the door, she wondered who was calling at this time of the morning. Her sleepy eyes went wide as she saw her father and Alex, as well as Sarah Henderson. Embracing her father, she told him how glad she was to see him.

"You're both OK!," Kim spoke as the four went into the house. Chase, who was busy making toast, smiled as they walked into the kitchen.

"Good to see you back," Chase spoke, as he handed Angela a piece of toast. Joseph, who had been busy eating his toast, walked over to Alex.

"Hi, Uncle Alex," Joseph said, looking up at Alex. He was glad to see his uncle again, after suddenly meeting him then not seeing him for a day. Sarah looked at the child and smiled.

"He really does look like her," she whispered to Alex. Joseph had Nina's blue-green eyes and her brown hair, as well as her skin tone. Alex couldn't tell who the father could be, but knew that it was one of only a few possible fathers, and they included Jack and Tony.

**6.40am, CTU Los Angeles**

Arriving early to work, Erin knew that she had to make a decision about Jack's future, and after the events of the night, the decision would be even harder to make. She knew that Division were pressuring her to decide quickly, but she was hesitating to do so – although Jack had drug problems, and had broken the law by killing Nina Myers, she knew that he was a valuable asset to CTU. As for Alex, she decided that the suspension would be all the punishment he would receive, and was glad to be able to have him return to CTU after a few weeks away. She knew that after last night, Division would not want to prosecute him any further.

**6.45am, CDC Watsonville**

The process by which CDC would destroy the vials was under way, and within minutes the threat would finally be extinguished forever. Carefully pouring the powder out, the CDC scientists placed the vials in an incinerator, then got to work on the powder.

**6.55am, Kim's house, Valencia**

Alex and Sarah were alone in the room, and were talking about their night. Both had gone through hours of stressful and at at times painful events that had led to the deaths of others, or the downfall of others. Sitting on the couch, neither of them had noticed that they were slowly edging closer to each other.

"Whilst you were so worried about me, Sarah, I didn't even know what you were going through, and now I do, I'm glad that you managed to save those hostages," Alex spoke, having been unaware of the second hostage crisis until Sarah had mentioned it.

"I was just doing my job, Alex, and so was Carl, the police officer who died at the scene. He was shot for no reason at all," Sarah replied.

"His death wasn't in vain, Sarah. He played a big part in saving those people," Alex spoke.

"Can we talk about something else? I want to forget last night," Sarah asked, and Alex nodded.

"How about we talk about us?," Alex replied, and as they moved ever closer, Alex realised that their relationship was about to get a lot less platonic. Kissing each other passionately, the night's events were forgotten, and the future was considered.

_**6:59:57**_

_**6:59:58**_

_**6:59:59**_

_**7:00:00**_


End file.
